The Elemental
by kelseymetro
Summary: Being in a war is bad enough but when a mysterious Death Eater joins the Order, Harry can't help but be nervous. Don't forget the fact that said Death Eater now has enormous power... Oh, and one last thing, did Harry mention it's Malfoy? SLASH AU
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**This chapter is to see if you guys like the story. Enjoy...hopefully...**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

It had all happened so fast.

One minute they were stunning the death eaters coming towards them, the next the entire Order had been instructed to apparate out of there.

The Death Eaters had been causing the usual mayhem so the Order had quickly put together a team and sent them in. Both sides had fought viciously, throwing endless hexes at their opponents and ducking when a dangerous curse came flying towards them. The Order just out numbered the Death Eaters, but due to the severity of the curses the Death Eaters were throwing, there were more injured on the Order's side. Harry had been fighting Bellatrix Lestrange, and quite enjoying it if he was honest with himself. He had been itching for the chance to finally get even with her for Sirius' death.

The sound of a mini explosion rocketed around the area and, as if the Death Eaters were waiting for that cue, they disapparated. Harry hadn't seen what happened after that, he just followed Ron's lead and apparated back to headquarters. He had slung Neville's arm over his shoulder as he went. He had been hit with a stunner in the back of the head. Harry had seen it happen but was pretty preoccupied with Bellatrix to help. He had been furious that Bellatrix had just left like that but he knew better than to go looking for her. Harry Potter walking into the Death Eater camp wasn't a good idea. Well not for Harry but hey it might help the Death Eaters trying to kill him. Voldemort would surely have been pleased.

The second Harry had entered Number 12 Grimmauld Place, he and Ron had been ushered upstairs to put Neville in one of the beds. Most of the Order had left for either Madame Pomfrey or had crowded into the library. Kingsley, McGonagall, Tonks, Remus, The elder Weasleys and some of the other important Order members had quickly entered the Library and shut the door after them. After sending Molly to usher Harry, Ron and Neville upstairs that was.

Harry felt a little irritated actually. It was his bloody house and they were leaving him out, yet again, of important Order decisions. Sure they had done it in fifth year, but Harry was eighteen now. You would think being the Chosen One would guarantee your involvement in decisions. You'd be wrong.

Between him and Ron, they heaved Neville's limp body onto one of the beds. Madam Pomfrey immediately rushed over to check Neville's vitals then waved her wand in the normal motion to awaken him. Having done their job, Harry and Ron left the ward. They walked in silence for a bit before Ron interrupted Harry's fuming.

"What do you think they're doing downstairs?" He said quietly.

Harry glanced at Ron surprised. Ron had never been known for his perceptiveness but apparently Hermione had rubbed off on him finally.

"I don't know Ron" Harry sighed, "Obviously something too important for the likes of _us._"

Ron snorted at this. "More important then you mate? You're the one who bloody has to kill old snake face!" Harry grinned at this but then shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know why the Order had decided on this occasion to leave out Harry. They hadn't been doing it recently so why now?

"Who knows?" He answered, "Maybe it's something they can't talk about with me there?" Harry felt rather pleased with himself. He only added the last bit with just a hint of bitterness.

The two had reached the top of the stairs. They looked simultaneously at each other. Technically, nobody had banned them from going downstairs, just pointedly suggested they went upstairs. Besides it was Harry's house! He should be able to go where he damn well pleases.

Ron was grinning slightly at Harry's determined expression and motioned that he'd follow Harry.

Nobody moved.

Harry rolled his eyes. They weren't scared of going downstairs. Just...apprehensive about what they would find. Plus Molly was bloody scary.

"Harry?"

Harry and Ron jumped a mile. They spun round guiltily towards the voice. They sighed however, when they saw Hermione standing in a door way with a suspicious look on her face. "What were you doing?" Harry and Ron shuffled their feet nervously.

"Standing" Ron muttered quietly, trying to be clever. Hermione wasn't amused. Harry was though and disguised a smile behind his hand.

"Well obviously you were standing, Ronald" She said haughtily. Harry winced at the use of Ron's first name.

So did Ron.

"Erm yes..." Ron chuckled weakly. He gave her a small smile before glancing back at the stairs. Hermione followed this movement and her eyes widened. She looked left and right before moving closer to Harry and Ron.

"You weren't going downstairs, were you?" She whispered. Ron shook his head violently, denying it but Harry gave her a defensive look.

"What if we were?" He said defiantly. Ron smacked his head with his hand. He sighed and punched Harry lightly on the arm. "They didn't say we weren't allowed downstairs?" Hermione smiled at this before nodding slowly.

"You're right Harry" She smiled secretively, "But I think we should be quiet just in case"

Ron gave her a shocked look, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "_You _want to sneak downstairs with us?!" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yes! I want to know what's so important!" She huffed. Harry grinned at her. You could always count on Hermione to break rules with you. Well mostly. Actually, only if it had nothing to do with exams, school, the library or anything important. Hmmmm... Ignore that. Hermione had broke most rules under those conditions.

"Come on" She whispered and began tiptoeing down the stairs. Harry followed her lead, Ron straight behind him. They crept past Mrs Black's portrait, which thankfully didn't wake up and begin screaming its head off. Past the kitchen and the dining room they went. Finally they reached the door to the library. It was closed and but they could still hear quiet voices talking inside. Some of them sounded angry which surprised Harry. It must be serious. One of the voices Harry recognised was McGonagall and she hardly ever raised her voice.

Ron was rustling in his pockets, obviously searching for something. After several seconds diving, he emerged with 3 pairs of extendable ears. Harry grinned and patted Ron lightly on the back. He stuck the flesh coloured string in his ear and directed the ear to underneath the door. The voices were suddenly magnified and Harry resisted the urge to step back a little.

"This is a _very_ bad idea, Minerva." Somebody was saying strongly. Hermione raised her eyebrows at the boys. Whoever spoke to McGonagall like that was a braver soul than Harry and by the look of Ron's shocked face; a far braver soul than Ron. Harry concentrated back on the conversation and focussed on McGonagall's reply.

"I disagree Hestia, I can't think of a better place!" She replied icily.

Better place for what? Harry thought. What had happened at the battle that left most of the Order arguing? Not the best thing to be doing during the war.

"Minerva! He's a Death Eater! He's one of them!" Hestia screeched.

Harry almost dropped his extendable ear in alarm. Who the hell had brought a Death Eater into bloody Headquarters? Granted he (whoever he was) couldn't tell anybody the location because he wasn't the Secret Keeper. But still...He would find out important information! Harry looked worriedly at Hermione and Ron who were giving him similar alarmed glances.

"Hestia" McGonagall said coldly, "He came to us looking for a safe place to stay. He obviously doesn't want to stay on the Death Eaters side. Besides, look what they did to him!" She finished resolutely. Harry was puzzled. A Death Eater turning to the _light_ side for help? Why on earth would they do that? And what exactly did McGonagall mean by look what they did to him?

Voices in the background murmured in agreement with McGonagall but Hestia apparently wasn't convinced.

"But how do you _know_ that he won't try something?!" She stressed, "He could murder us all in our beds!" Somebody shouted out an agreement to that too.

McGonagall scoffed though. "I'm not sure about you Hestia, but I'm pretty sure all the other paranoid people in this building can put up effective wards." Most people in the library laughed at this and Harry shook his head, slightly deafened by the increase in noise. From the movement to his left, Harry gathered that Hermione and Ron were doing the same.

Hestia was still arguing though, a tone of embarrassment in her voice though. "I think you should at least ask Mr Potter." Harry looked shocked at Hermione and Ron. Why did his decision change anything? He couldn't help feeling a little pleased.

"No need to look far, Hestia" barked Moody, "He and the other two are outside the door."

All pleasant feelings disappeared as footsteps came closer to the door. They all jumped backwards in shock as the Library door opened suddenly. The three of them stuffed the extendable ears quickly into their back pockets and tried to look casual. Judging by Kingsley's knowing look, they failed. He moved aside to let the three of them into the library and closed the door firmly behind them again.

Harry shuffled nervously into the centre of the room with Hermione and Ron. Hermione was looking embarrassed whilst Ron was looking rather pleased with himself at being invited in as well.

"As you know Harry," Kingsley said gravely, "this is your house. You should have a choice in the decision we are about to present you with." He looked expectantly over to McGonagall who stepped forward quickly. She tossed Hestia Jones a dirty look before smiling at Harry. Harry looked back worriedly. It was never good when McGonagall smiled at you like that...

"Well Harry, the Order has a bit of a dilemma at the moment." She started saying before Hestia interrupted her by snorting loudly. McGonagall threw her another threatening look and she shut her mouth again. "As I was saying, we have a dilemma" McGonagall continued, "In the recent fight a Death Eater came up to us and requested sanctuary. Apparently he was in danger of his life with the Death Eaters because he refused to kill some Muggles. You might have heard the loud explosion at the end?"

Harry nodded bemused. A feeling of dread was starting to come over him. He really hoped McGonagall wasn't trying to tell him she rescued a poor little Death Eater. Those words just sounded so _wrong_ together. Oxymoronic much?

McGonagall nodded as well. "One of the Death Eaters fired an extremely dangerous spell at this person. That was the explosion you heard. Anyway, we apparated out with the unconscious person as the Death Eaters left."

Oh God Harry knew it. He stiffened and glanced quickly around the room. Half of the faces were grim, the others were uncertain.

McGonagall was still talking though. "The spell is dangerous because of its effects and in the past has killed the victim as well as many other people in the vicinity." Harry had the distinct feeling that McGonagall was hiding something for him and he had a bloody good idea what it was.

"Who is it?" he asked sharply, a little harsher than he meant to but the dread in the pit of his stomach was growing to mammoth proportions. Hermione had taken a sharp intake of breath at Harry's tone of voice, but he ignored her.

McGonagall and Kingsley were looking incredibly guilty now.

"It shouldn't matter who it is, Harry. This curse is extremely dangerous but surprisingly he's survived. I think he would be a great ally if given the chance-" Harry cut her off with a frown.

"Who is it?" he said stronger.

A quiet moan from Harry's left had him swivelling quickly. Somebody was lying down on a reclining couch by the bookcase. Unfortunately, the person was hidden in a pile of dark robes. As the person sat up slowly however, there was no mistaking that pale blonde hair.

"Malfoy?!" Harry gasped.

"Potter?!" Malfoy answered weakly.

Harry was glaring at Malfoy. He hadn't seen the bastard since the day he let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. How dare he come into Harry's house? Did he expect Harry to welcome him with open arms?

The temperature of the room had oddly dropped about ten degrees and Harry shivered unexpectedly. The rest of the Order however was muttering worriedly behind Harry's back. Harry didn't care though. Malfoy should have thought about what being a Death Eater would mean before joining them.

"Get Out" he hissed menacingly. It wasn't his problem that Malfoy's own side was out to get him. He would have to go somewhere else.

Malfoy's face was shocked at first, before he sat up straighter and glared back at Harry. The temperature was now fine in the room. Harry must have been mistaken for a few seconds. Malfoy's face was like thunder for a few seconds when chaos broke out in the library.

It had broken out because a large fire had lit suddenly a few inches away from Harry.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Right guys you know the drill. Review if you wish me to continue this story. I should update soon if lots of you guys review :) **

**Btw, thank you to all of you that read and reviewed 'In the Care of Magical Creature Catchers'. It is now finished and I would not have done it without you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Disclaimer: No, nein, non, iie... Anymore languages I can translate it in? Harry Potter is not mine. **

**The Plot thickens...**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry sprang a safe distance from where he had just been standing. In his place was a fire, spreading quickly towards a bookcase laden with books.

Now Harry did only attend primary school chemistry...but he was pretty sure that much paper would create a lovely bonfire.

Several wizards immediately raised their wands and aimed them at the rapidly spreading fire. Harry did the same, and the word 'Aguamenti' was on his lips when the fire died out suddenly. It was as if a switch had flipped. One minute the fire had been roaring and getting bigger by the second, the next is had completely disappeared leaving a burn mark on the carpet.

Harry spun around to check on Hermione and Ron. They were standing a safe distance away near McGonagall and they were...shivering?

Harry suddenly noticed the bone chilling iciness that was seeping into him. It was exactly like what had happened earlier, but this time it didn't stop. No, it grew colder and colder until Harry was breathing out visible puffs of air. Harry jumped as a something icy dropped onto his cheek. He wiped it away with a blue finger. It was a snowflake. How the hell was it snowing inside?!

He glanced up towards the ceiling and was astonished. The ceiling wasn't even visible! All that could be seen were fluffy white snow clouds covering the normally dark paint. They were rumbling ominously, as if undecided whether they would turn into rain clouds or not. Another snowflake on his nose this time threw him out of his thoughts. He wildly looked around the room, searching for the source of this extremely strange magic.

Hermione and Ron were clutching each other for warmth. Looking behind them, Harry noticed something extremely odd. McGonagall was ignoring the freak snow storm completely and instead talking to Malfoy quietly. She had knelt down in the now foot deep snow and was giving him a soft look that seemed completely out of place on her normally strict face. Harry was pretty sure he had only seen that expression once on McGonagall's face and that had been when Harry told her that Dumbledore had died. Remembering Dumbledore again sent a spiral of anger up into Harry. He started wading through the snow towards Malfoy, his teeth chattering as he went.

When he came close enough to hear what McGonagall was saying, he stood shocked.

"You need to calm down Mr Malfoy" she was saying quietly, "You're going to freeze everyone." Malfoy had his arms wrapped around his legs and was shaking like a leaf. "This is exhausting you," McGonagall continued, "You need to calm down"

Thoughts were running through Harry's head. Malfoy had done this? How?! He certainly hadn't seemed like a powerful wizard at Hogwarts, sort of average actually. But according to McGonagall, he was creating this blizzard in the library.

Malfoy let out a dry sob suddenly. "I don't know how!" he shuddered out, "What the hell have they done to me?!"

Realisation hit Harry as the 'sky' above broke in a thundering crash and let a downpour of rain down on top of everyone. Harry was instantly soaked as the stinging rain penetrated through the three layers he was wearing, and straight down to his skin. His hair was plastered to his forehead and droplets were running down into his eyes. He quickly wiped his face, desperately trying to overhear McGonagall over the thunderous downpour. The icy cold coupled with the stinging rain was making Harry's breathing rather shaky and he felt rather faint.

"You'll get through this Mr Malfoy...Draco, but right now you need to _calm down!_" McGonagall said firmly. Maybe it was the tone of her voice; most probably it was the use of Draco's first name, but whatever it was it made Malfoy give one last shuddering sob before quietening. As if waiting for this cue, the rain stopped and the ceiling was clear once more. The only evidence of the freak storm was the soggy carpet and the layer of water still covering everything.

McGonagall laid a hesitant hand on Malfoy's back and Harry was about to ask what the hell was going on, when someone beat him to it.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Ron roared loudly.

Harry turned round to look at him when he noticed an unconscious Hermione in his arms. He rushed over to her and felt her icy cold forehead. The temperatures had obviously become too intense for her and she had fainted. Harry withdrew his wand and cast a quick warming charm over her. The colour returned a bit to her cheeks, but her eyes remained shut. Glancing around Harry noticed a few other people had collapsed due to the cold. Other Order members were currently taking care of them though.

"Ronald Weasley!" Molly reprimanded his language weakly. She was shivering in her wet clothes but compared to the Golden Trio, she wasn't looking that surprised by the previous weather conditions. In fact, the rest of the Order were either looking furiously in Malfoy's direction or resigned. Harry followed their eyes and turned back towards McGonagall. She was giving Harry a determined look. She stood up straight and faced him head on.

Harry raised an eyebrow before voicing the question running through his mind. "What was that dangerous spell that you were on about before?" He already suspected what it might be; after all indoor storms didn't start by themselves, and gave McGonagall a sardonic look.

"The Elemental grants wizards and witches to control the four elements" she said clearly. Harry felt like rolling his eyes but refrained. Just.

"And why have we not heard of this spell before? Isn't it something everyone would want?" Harry questioned. He didn't get why Death Eaters apparently after Draco would curse him with something that would probably make him more powerful than them. Not exactly top-notch war tactics is it?

McGonagall gave Malfoy, who was still curled up on the couch, a quick glance. "The spell...usually makes the victim freeze to death or burn to death. They can't control the power of the elements and it eventually destroys them."

Silence met this statement and Harry knew he had a horrified look on his face. Lucius Malfoy would have agreed for his son to burn or freeze to death. What kind of father would do that to their own son? Another thought struck Harry...

"Why hasn't Malfoy 'froze or burnt to death'?" he questioned, puzzled. He hoped his voice didn't sound as hopeful as it did inside his head.

McGonagall gave Harry a frown.

Oops, Harry thought, apparently it had.

"The only theory we can come up with, is that someone altered the spell. What we can't figure out is _why_ they would do this if they wanted to...kill Mr Malfoy here. Either that or there's something about Mr Malfoy that didn't reject the spell." She paused slightly in her ponderings before carrying on. "Whatever their reasons, we now have proof that Mr Malfoy's story is correct."

How the hell did she figure that one out?

The Death Eaters had given Malfoy super powers, sent him into the Order Headquarters and hadn't killed him. What the hell was so bad about that? McGonagall read Harry's obvious sceptical expression and sighed slightly. Her worn features became more pronounced. She looked back at Malfoy curled up on the sofa, almost completely covered again with his black robe.

"As you could probably have seen from before, this spell is extremely dangerous for a reason. Aside from the fact it usually kills its victims, it has the potential to cause massive destruction. One person alone can't possibly deal with the effects of the spell" she broke off again and gazed at Malfoy, "Besides," she gave Harry a hard look, "If he does manage to control this power and Lord Voldemort got hold of him, who knows what could happen."

Most of the Order shuddered at this, some because the mention of Lord Voldemort's name- to which Harry rolled his eyes- others because they were imagining Lord Voldemort with the power to control the elements. Harry hadn't shuddered but the feeling of dread was back in his stomach. He knew what he would have to do.

He took a deep breath before glancing at Ron. He looked back for a second before his eyes widened. With that new found perceptiveness he had obviously figured out what Harry was about to do.

Harry gave McGonagall a steady look and took a deep breath. "If he were to stay here, would there he be under suitable surveillance?" he asked. McGonagall gave him a slight smile, ignoring the gasps that came following Harry's words. She gave a sharp nod.

"I'll see to that" she said firmly. Harry didn't smile back, but instead gave her a grimace.

"Just make sure he stays out of my way if he's going to do that flame thing whenever he gets angry" he replied.

He turned sharply back towards Ron and helped him levitate Hermione's unconscious body up to the hospital wing. He didn't look back once at Malfoy and because of this; Harry didn't see him finally lift his head.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"What?!" gasped Hermione, "You're just going to let Malfoy stay here?! At the Order's headquarters?!"

Harry rolled his eyes. That wasn't exactly how Harry remembered it happened. He hadn't exactly welcomed Malfoy with open arms.

After the eventful meeting, Harry and Ron had taken Hermione up to the hospital ward. Madam Pomfrey had rushed over and given her a quick Pepper-up Potion. Apparently she already knew about Malfoy and his...condition. She had quickly treated him before Neville. Anyway, due to the potion Hermione had woken up immediately and had demanded an explanation.

"I suspected something when that fire had started because Malfoy was glaring at you. Awfully big coincidence if you ask me. When the blizzard started, I was convinced. Malfoy had an absolutely shocking look of panic on his face when you almost went up in flames" Hermione explained, her eyes eager, "I'd heard of the spell but never seen it because it was so dangerous. I can't believe the Death Eaters would put it on Malfoy." Her eyes had turned serious now and she was worrying her lip.

Trust Hermione to be sympathetic towards Malfoy, whom had bullied her through all of Hogwarts.

"I know Herm", Harry agreed quietly, "But he's still Malfoy, no matter what horrible curses have been cast upon him." Hermione appeared to be pondering that. She shook her head slightly at Harry.

"I'm not too sure. McGonagall did say he had decided to change sides _before_ he was hit by that spell. Maybe he won't be as horrible as usual." Harry thought about this. Hermione did have a point. Still, it was weird to think of Malfoy as anything but a spoilt, insulting brat.

Ron decided to put his two cents in, apparently tired of listening to Harry and Hermione talking fairly positively about Malfoy.

"I don't care how much the Death Eaters are out to get him, he can take his new 'powers' with him and piss off!" Ron stated bluntly.

Hermione smacked his arm.

"I know Ron", Harry sighed, "I'm not happy either but just listen to what McGonagall was saying. Imagine an element wielding Malfoy working for Voldemort."

Ron predictably shuddered twice.

He looked unconvinced but nevertheless dropped it. Well sort of...

"I just don't get why the hell Malfoy would come to our side! He hates most of us!" he ranted. Harry huffed in frustration. He bloody knew all this and Ron just kept bringing it up again! Harry and Hermione both fixed Ron with a steady look and he shut his mouth quickly.

We'll just not go anywhere near him okay?" Harry compromised, "You probably won't even notice he's here."

Even Hermione snorted at this.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Second chapter complete. Thanks to: Somethingdifferent, LunaParvulus, kriddle722, Mr. Rainbows, Mcmllnchrstn, RoseNarc, princess cythera, Kieksie and harryxdracoxforever. Your reviews were great! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mister Potter. Though if J.K is offering...**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed so far. I hope I can hold everyone's attention during this next chapter...**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"Harry, get up mate! Time for breakfast!"Ron yelled and threw his pillow at Harry's almost completely immersed head. Unfortunately the tuft of untidy hair had been too tempting of a target and Ron apparently hadn't been able to resisting hitting it full on with a pillow. Harry wriggled deeper into the cocoon of blankets and ignored Ron.

"Haaaaarrrryyy!" Ron carolled. He bounded over to Harry's nest and prodded his shoulder. Harry made an irritated noise and squirmed away from the menace of a limb. However, Ron was known for his annoying persistence. He continued poking Harry and kept up an infuriating chatter as he did it.

"Mum's made pancakes and waffles and toast and bacon. I think she's also made scrambled eggs and sausages and oatmeal. Oh and boiled eggs and poached eggs and...And..." Ron had apparently run out of breakfast choices at this point and settled for frowning at Harry's outline in the blankets instead. "But there won't be any left if you don't get up now Harry" he continued.

Harry tried to say "It doesn't matter Ron. I'm tired not hungry!" It didn't quite work out that well though.

"Harry, I'm not too sure what 'Mrphguhy Ragnury' means...but I'll assume it can be translated to 'Ron, pour a bucket of cold water over my head'" Ron said grinning wickedly. Hearing this, Harry immediately shot out of bed and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. Ron fell about laughing as Harry looked around blearily at Ron. Noticing the distinct lack of bucket, he stood up and punched Ron on the arm.

"Git" he muttered and sat back on his bed again. Ron immediately began poking him on the arm again so he wouldn't fall back asleep. Harry swatted his annoying finger away and yawned widely. He glanced towards the curtains and saw it was still fairly dark outside.

"Why did you get me up so early?" he yawned. Ron looked puzzled towards the curtains.

"It's not that early. About seven actually and anyway you said you were going to fly with me today." he stated. He didn't stop his arm prodding either. Harry nearly flopped back when he heard it was before eight but nevertheless stood up and stretched. He vaguely remembered promising Ron he would go flying with him. He waved Ron towards the door and pulled out some clothes for the day. Ron finally stopped his poking and bounded down the stairs quickly. Harry quickly sat back down on his bed and rubbed his eyes weakly.

He hadn't been able to sleep very much last night. What with the Malfoy crisis going on, Harry couldn't help being stressed. Not to mention last night he'd had another vision of Voldemort. He had oddly been torturing one of his Death Eaters. Actually that wasn't odd in itself, but the Death Eater he had been torturing was. It had been Snape and Harry was pretty sure Snape was one of Voldemort's highest ranking Death Eaters. Not surprising considering he had managed to murder 

Dumbledore. Harry sighed heavily at this. Anyway, he'd gotten three hours of sleep at the most. He kept thinking that at any moment he could be fried or drowned. He didn't know why, but Malfoy's new powers were really spooking him out.

He dragged himself to his feet again and dressed quickly. He visited the bathroom quickly to complete his morning ablutions and grabbed a sweater to put on. He pulled it over his head as he dashed down the stairs. As he almost tripped over four shoes, an umbrella stand and oddly someone's wand, Harry belatedly realised that pulling a sweater over your head as you walked down some stairs wasn't the best idea. He stopped for a few seconds to untangle his glasses and sweater before continuing down the stairs. He pocketed the wand as he went though. Knowing Tonks it was probably hers. As Mrs Weasley said 'she'd probably lose her head if it wasn't attached'. Harry thought this saying was a little stupid actually.

He dragged his feet down the last few steps and entered the dining room. Already Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Mrs Weasley and Mr Weasley were up. The other lucky people were probably still sleeping in bed. The Weasley twins weren't even in the house as they had an apartment in Diagon Alley so they wouldn't be up for hours at least.

Harry wistfully looked back towards the stairs.

"Morning Harry!" greeted Hermione and Ginny. Mrs Weasley also had noticed his presence and presented him with a huge plate of breakfast. Harry gratefully accepted the cup of coffee from her as well. He seated himself down at the table and drank his coffee steadily.

"What are you doing today then Harry?" questioned Mr Weasley. Harry yawned and pointed vaguely at Ron who was inhaling sausages faster than Harry could air. Hermione had also noticed, but tactfully decided not to comment. She did however, roll her eyes at Ginny. As she was Ron's sister she apparently didn't have any objections to smacking Ron around the head with her hand.

"Flying I think" he answered, smiling a little at the two siblings now bickering. Mr Weasley nodded interested and glanced outside. Harry did too. It was actually looking a little cloudy today. Hopefully it wouldn't rain though. "Are you doing anything today, Mr Weasley?" Arthur nodded enthusiastically and began making wild gestures with his hands.

"Oh yes! We got a case of a regurgitating blender today! Just a bit of Muggle baiting as usual- poor fellows can't imagine why their blender is still spurting out food even after they've put the lid on-, but I've always been fascinated about household Muggle appliances." Harry smiled politely, but couldn't help grinning at Mr Weasley's enthusiastic expression.

"Arthur, don't forget we have to do that _thing _with the _thing_ today" Molly Weasley stressed. She was wiping her hands on her flowery apron and occasionally flicking her wand at the stove. Arthur nodded at her and continued to tell Harry about amazing Muggle appliances. Harry of course, knew all about them but it was nice to hear Mr Weasley explain them anyway.

Ron and Ginny's argument had reached new heights but was quickly broken up by Molly's loud bellow.

"Can't you two stop so the rest of us can have some peace!?"She yelled, her normally pleasant face was twisted in a glare. Ron and Ginny looked at each other resentfully.

"She started it" Ron muttered immaturely.

"I meant NOW!" Mrs Weasley said loudly. On her last word an unexpected explosion rocked the house. Molly looked rather surprised at herself for a second before coming to a more logical conclusion. She glanced worriedly down the corridor. Harry shared a worried look with Ron and Hermione before jumping out of his seat and sprinting towards the explosions. Following the almost regular explosions, Harry turned the corner and burst in through a door at the end of the corridor.

Standing in the middle of the empty room was Mad-Eye Moody with a shield up. On the other side was an enraged Draco Malfoy.

"I can't fucking do it! We've been at it for fucking hours and your so called teaching hasn't done a fucking thing!" he was screaming at Moody. His breathing was ragged and his fists were clenched tightly. He seemed afraid to move a muscle but at the same time unable to calm down. He was pointing an accusing finger at Moody as if he was blaming him for his situation.

Moody just stood there though, glaring at Malfoy. Harry ducked as a fireball erupted from Malfoy's fingertip and hit the wall centimetres from where he had been standing. He brushed some ash off his hair and glared at Malfoy. He could feel the rage emanating off Malfoy in waves but Moody still wasn't doing anything.

"Oh and here's Perfect Potter to sort fucking everything out!" Malfoy sneered at Harry, practically shaking now with anger. Harry could tell that he was letting out years of anger. Now this would be healthy for most people but then most people couldn't conjure fireballs when they were angry. That was it..., Harry realised. Malfoy could control fire when he was angry. If he would just calm down then he would stop burning holes in the wall.

Harry glanced towards Moody. He was still just standing there, almost as if he was waiting for Malfoy to do something else. Harry rolled his eyes. It was up to him then. He sprinted towards Malfoy, dodging another fireball that this time managed to erupt from Malfoy's eyes.

"How are you going to fix this one then Potter?" Malfoy continued glaring at him. Harry ignored him and continued dodging the various flaming obstacles in his way. Harry would punch the bloody prat if he had to and believe Harry, he'd be glad to. He didn't care that Hermione would definitely lecture him about violence never solving anything, Malfoy was ruining Sirius's house and Harry wouldn't stand for it. Granted Sirius didn't actually like the house but still, it was a connection to him that Harry still had. And Malfoy was throwing fireballs at it. From the corner of his eye he could see Ron and Hermione trying to put out some of the major fires whilst dodging fireballs that were coming their way.

Harry had almost reached Malfoy and was about to hit him sharply across the face when a flaming hand knocked his out of the way. Harry winced in pain and clutched his burnt hand. He glared back fiercely at Malfoy.

"You need to calm down" he told him angrily, "You're going to torch the place if you don't" Malfoy glared at Harry but his hands were still flaming and his eyes were glowing an unearthly silver.

"You don't get it do you Potter! I've lost everything and now I'm a freak of nature to boot! I can shoot fucking fire out of my eyes for God's sake! I'm bloody sick and tired of people telling me to _calm down_ when every single emotion appears to trigger a violent elemental reaction!" Malfoy ranted, his eyes narrowed and glaring into Harry's. Harry could feel Malfoy's anger rising again and quickly grabbed his shoulder to shake him out of it.

The second he touched Malfoy he was overwhelmed with feelings of anger, remorse, sadness and utter desperation. Harry gasped and sunk to his knees. Malfoy followed, gazing at Harry astonished. Harry panted as he desperately tried to control all the foreign feelings. Finally succeeding he stared at Malfoy. The feelings had been triggered by Malfoy. For all Harry knew they could be his. Harry pushed away from Malfoy quickly and backed up. He certainly didn't want to do that again. He didn't know how else to describe it but as if he was drowning in a huge big ocean of emotions. Harry had felt suffocated and panicked. He glanced back at Hermione and Ron who were staring at him with equally surprised expressions. Ron with his mouth wide open and Hermione- a little more elegantly- with her eyed wide.

Moody was also staring at Harry with mild interest. "Well Potter, you do like to surprise us" he said gruffly. Harry looked at him confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked quickly, hoping it wasn't another one of those 'Parselmouth' times. Moody tilted his scarred head to the side and looked at Harry appraisingly. He gestured towards Malfoy's now cool hands.

"It seems you have a bit of empathic talent there" he explained, his magical eyeball swivelling dizzily inside its socket. Harry dragged his eyes away from it and concentrated on what Moody was saying. "Actually Potter, you could be a great help with Malfoy's training as it appears _his_ talents require a certain emotional state." Harry looked alarmed and stepped back towards the door again. Harry's eyes widened. Helping Malfoy with his training meant staying in a room with him for at least a few hours a day. He knew he wouldn't be able to cope with that when he was still furious with the boy.

"You know what?" Harry said panickedly, desperately trying to get out of the situation, "I'm sure you can do fine without me" He hurried past Hermione and Ron, and went back upstairs. He ignored Hermione's calls as he fled the room.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry was carrying his Firebolt upstairs when he noticed the water leaking out onto the landing. A faint dripping noise was emanating from inside the room and Harry pressed his ear to it. He was confused. He was pretty sure it wasn't a bathroom, but yet he could hear drips of water and something else... it sounded like someone sobbing.

A cold, guilty blanket wrapped itself around Harry's heart.

He sighed.

Only one person could make it rain when he cried.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Poor Malfoy... he has a hard life. But hey, hopefully Harry can make it better ;-) Review and I'll cheer Malfoy up sharpish! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I got a ton of reviews for the last chapter so I'm well pleased :) Hits have gone up to the thousands as well which has amazed me! **

**On with the story then I suppose...**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry sat down next to Moody on the wooden bench.

Most of the Order had congressed in the kitchen for a massive game of cards. They didn't do this often due to the fact that Fred and George almost always won. Mostly, Harry suspected, because they cheated but so far the twins had got horribly offended last time someone accused them of cheating. Harry wasn't entirely sure they hadn't been acting but he thought it best not to test them. They had already played quite a few games but Harry had been upstairs thinking for most of them.

He gladly accepted his hand of cards and flicked through them secretly. He had quite a good hand actually; several different cards of different suits. Perfect for playing a casual came of Jacks and Fives. (1) The aim of the game was to get rid of all of your cards. People would take it in turns to put down a card that was either the same suit or number as the one before it. Jacks can change suits and you win when you get rid of all of your cards.

Harry shuffled his hand discretely putting the cards of the same suit in the same place. He glanced surreptitiously towards Moody but he was gazing intently at his cards. Harry looked back at his own hand. Multiple groans and cheers were going around the table as people evaluated their cards. Harry kept silent though.

He didn't want to do this but he knew he'd feel extremely guilty if he didn't. He wanted to know exactly what he was getting himself into though. The suffocating feeling before had been unbearable and definitely not something Harry wanted to experience again. He could only hope that he was doing something wrong before at that was why it hurt him.

When Harry noticed it was his turn he put down an eight of spade and went back to his thinking.

He should really leave Malfoy to it. After all he didn't owe him anything. He still didn't trust him either. He couldn't get the broken look Malfoy had when he was standing on the astronomy tower out of his head though. Granted he still thought the bastard deserved it. What the hell was he thinking letting Death Eaters into the school like that?! He could have killed all the students...all his classmates! Didn't he have a fucking heart at all?

Harry sighed deeply and put another card down. The game went on and Harry continued contemplating.

If he did help Malfoy with whatever he was trying to learn, it probably would stop him torching/soaking Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Actually now that Harry thought about it, he was helping Mad-Eye not Malfoy. Yes that was it. He was helping a fellow Order member with a seemingly impossible task. He gave Moody a quick glance and found him staring at Harry. He quickly turned back to his cards and sighed deeply.

"What would helping Malfoy with his training entail then?", he asked Moody quietly, not wanting anyone at the table to overhear. Moody tapped his foot thoughtfully before putting down an ace of hearts. Harry quickly followed suit, no pun intended, and put a card down quickly. He waited expectantly for Moody's answer.

"Well Potter as you've probably gathered Malfoy's emotions trigger different elements," Moody said gruffly. Harry nodded quickly, his eyes still on his remaining few cards. "Problem is the spell at the moment activates off the slightest emotion giving Malfoy no control over them. That's where you come in." He nodded concisely and dropped another card onto the pile in the middle of the table. Harry searched his three cards quickly before putting one down on top of Moody's.

"And what exactly would I have to do?" he asked softly, sill refusing to look at Moody. He didn't want anyone to know he was considering helping Malfoy. Moody tapped his grizzly chin thoughtfully and took a swallow of his drink.

"I think all you'd have to do is touch him. Oh and control his emotions of course" Moody replied easily.

Of course, Harry thought, control his emotions. Why didn't I think of that? He then realised Moody couldn't hear sarcasm in one's head. He rolled his eyes and selected another card to put down. He only had one left now, a Jack of clubs.

"How exactly would I do that?" Harry asked a little exasperated. Moody coughed slightly. When he recovered he gave a little shrug.

"You'd have to see wouldn't you Potter. S'pect you'd have to something like what you did earlier." He barked a little gruffly. That was exactly what Harry had been afraid of. He confidently put down his last card and stood up. Fred and George stared at him stunned, unaware that Ginny had been summoning their extra cards from under the table.

"I'm out" he announced and moved away from the bench. He smiled at the people congratulating him but turned to leave the room anyway. He was getting tired.

"If you change your mind Potter," Moody said quietly, "We'll be downstairs tomorrow at about six." Harry grimaced at Moody.

"Make it seven and we might have a deal" he replied, making his way upstairs.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry paused at the door, his hand wrapped around the handle. He was seriously starting to doubt his decision. Look at what happened yesterday for example. He, Hermione and Ron had almost gotten burnt to a crisp. Okay that might be exaggerating things slightly, but they would have had three degree burns at least. He sighed. He was being a wuss. He'd just have to get this over with. He gripped the door handle firmly and turned it.

Moody and Malfoy were inside. Malfoy looking visible shocked and Moody...well Moody looked rather pleased actually. Not surprised though, a fact which slightly irked Harry. Was he really that predictable? Actually Harry didn't really want to answer that.

"What do you need me to do then?" he asked defiantly looking at Moody, who gave tilted his head towards Malfoy.

"Just stand over there. Make sure you're touching him" Moody barked. Harry walked slowly over to Malfoy, wishing he was anywhere than here. Malfoy wasn't making eye contact with him just staring at his feet. Harry ignored him and stood about a foot away.

"Malfoy," Moody said gruffly, "You'll be trying to conjure a storm. You know what to do."

Harry hesitantly rested his hand on Malfoy's arm and waited. Moody quickly cast a shield around himself- something that Harry was a little alarmed at. Was Malfoy dangerous then? Did _he_ need protection or was that just reserved for ex Aurors? He edged a little further away from Malfoy inconspicuously. Malfoy didn't notice though as he had his eyes firmly shut. He took a shaky breath and let it out slowly.

Harry sarcastically thought it was rather anticlimactic.

That is until a raindrop the size of a golf ball hit the end of his nose. He jumped unexpectedly but kept his hand firmly on Malfoy's arm. It was only then that he noticed the sadness washing over him. It was absolute despair. It flowed into him like poison, making him think of all the worst times in his life. Memories came back to him. Memories of Harry sitting in the cupboard under the stairs alone, Ron ignoring him in fourth year...Voldemort killing Cedric. Oh god it hurt so much. His heart felt like it was literally tearing in two.

Harry tried desperately to pull his hand away but couldn't. It was like he was frozen in place as hail stones and lightening crashed around him. The storm increased as Harry's despair grew. Images of Dudley bullying him when he was eight came back to him. The flash of green before Dumbledore plummeted over the castle wall passed in front of his mind. It was torture and Harry just wanted to be rid of it.

He struggled impossibly against the tide of emotions feeling like he was at sea in a hurricane, the water raging around him, trying to pull him under. He opened his eyes, surprised that he didn't remember closing them. Malfoy was standing there, as still as a statue as the storm raged around him. His hands were spread out slightly and there was a look of peace on his face. Harry hated the way he could just stand there whilst Harry had to experience all this pain. It was Malfoy's too, he realised, and sadness must bring on rain. Fire was obviously anger but Harry had yet to see the other two in action.

The memories were getting faster now. He saw the Dementor on the train in his third year, when he was at the lake with his godfather and he thought the Dementors were going to get him... ...the memory of Sirius falling through the archway, his eyes widened and the smile still playing about his lips. Rage filled Harry. To hell if he was going to stand here and experience all these things again, it had been bloody painful enough the first time around. The storm around them abruptly stopped and the temperature began to rise in the room. Harry was tugging fruitlessly at his immobile hand, completely oblivious of the way Moody was looking at him.

Malfoy's eyes opened suddenly and he stepped away from Harry quickly. Harry backed away and brushed the tears he hadn't realised were on his face. The temperature of the room once again cooled and everything was silent.

Harry was panting slightly and he continued backing away from Malfoy. He definitely didn't want to do that again. Malfoy was looking at him shocked and Harry would have found his face quite comical if he didn't feel as if he was going to break up into little Potter pieces at any moment. His heart was still beating erratically and there was an uncomfortable lump in his throat that he really wanted to get rid of at the moment. He could feel tears rising so he hastily made his way to the door.

"I...I...I can't do this" he stuttered out, his voice cracking, "I've got to...go" With that Harry bolted out of the room, ignoring the speculative look Moody was giving him. All he wanted to do was bolt from that room and come back. He fled to the back door and summoned his broom quickly.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

He breathed in slowly, letting the cold air of the morning sooth him. That had been...intense for lack of a better word. Intense couldn't even begin to describe it. The waves of sadness Malfoy had been feeling...Harry couldn't believe he felt emotions like that every time he conjured an element. But then if what Moody was saying was right, he couldn't even help those emotions. They just built up on him, running out of control. Harry knew what that felt like now. What was even worse was he hadn't known how to stop it.

He had obviously been doing something wrong. He hadn't controlled the intensity of Malfoy's emotions at all. In fact, he had made the situation worse. At the end, Harry realised, he had even added some of his own emotions to Malfoy. He hadn't been feeling angry as far as Harry could tell but Harry had and because of this Malfoy had almost set the room on fire again. No wonder he had stepped back.

Harry pulled the broom into a quick dive and skimmed his toes on the grass. Number 12 Grimmauld place didn't have a huge garden, but due to some handy charms it was just big enough to play a five aside game of Quidditch.

"Harry!" a voice called from the door. Harry glanced quickly at the door. Standing with his own broom in hand was Ron. Now Harry in generally _liked _flying with Ron but today he still felt too...weird to be around anyone else yet. He didn't say anything though and just waited for Ron as he mounted his broom and joined Harry in the air.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked curiously. Did he really want to know? He'd probably be pissed at Harry for doing something that remotely helped Malfoy. Harry knew exactly how Ron felt about him.

"Harry?" Ron repeated. Harry inwardly sighed. It was better to get it over with now rather than stretching it out.

Harry began to explain his morning to Ron.

Needless to say, Number 12 Grimmauld Place heard some rather spectacular rows that day.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**(1)Best game ever :P Me and my family used to play it all the time camping. Almost did my head in but fun anyway.**

**Please tell me which bits you liked guys so I'll know what sort of stuff to put in next time :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**Disclaimer: On the books it says 'J.K Rowling **_**owns**_** Harry Potter'. Not Kelseymetro...damn it. **

**I know how I want this story to end, but I seem to have a little trouble with getting my ideas out so I'm very sorry this update took such a long time.**

**Let's get on with Harry's second attempt at helping Draco shall we...**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"Pass the toast, mate" Ron managed to mumble around a forkful of scrambled eggs. Harry gave Ron a bemused expression before passing him the plate as requested. He had obviously forgiven Harry for the previous day.

It was about 9 o'clock in the morning and Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Mr Weasley and Ron were all seated for breakfast. Mrs Weasley was currently cooking some delicious smelling sausages in a pan. There hadn't been any alerts for a while so Harry was once again looking forward to flying for a bit. The fact that there hadn't been any raids for a while worried him. Voldemort was never one to stay hidden for long so he was either planning something incredibly evil that would probably amount to Harry's death or there would be an attack soon. Neither option was pleasant so Harry was making the most of the sunshine they were having at the moment.

He munched his way through some bacon, contemplating his day. Hermione had of course offered to lend him a 'short' book to read which probably meant it would take him a fortnight to read, but Harry had decided he would like to go flying. He didn't exactly have anything better to do at the moment. Guilt seized his heart for a second but he shook it off violently. There was nothing he could do. He was clearly not suited to help Malfoy with his training. Moody had obviously overrated his so called empathic abilities. Harry wasn't going to let it bother him though. He refused to let it ruin a perfectly good morning flying.

Well that was the plan...

It all went to plot however when the familiar clunk of Moody's leg echoed around the room. Harry immediately stiffened as Moody sat next to Hermione on the long bench and another person sat down on Harry's right. He didn't have to look who it was though. He already had a pretty good idea.

Moody had not come to see Harry since yesterday morning when he had ran out of the room. Harry had hoped he wouldn't because he knew Moody would guilt Harry back into helping him but Harry really didn't want to. So what if Harry was supposed to be able to help Malfoy with his training? Moody never said Malfoy couldn't do it on his own, just that it would be extremely hard for him without Harry's help.

Oblivious to the sudden tense atmosphere in the room, everyone else carried on talking and eating. Molly Weasley placed two plates down on the table and went back to her cooking merrily. Harry however, continued to sit completely still in his seat. His back muscles were starting to hurt with the strain he was putting on them. He knew what Moody was doing though and he wasn't going to just submit peacefully to it. He forced himself to relax and pick up his fork again. His movements were a little stiff at first but overall his performance could be seen as relatively casual.

"Morning Alastor" Mr Weasley greeted cheerfully, sipping his tea slowly. Moody nodded his head in acknowledgement before returning the greeting gruffly.

"Morning, Arthur" He began selecting different types of food from the spread in front of him. "Morning, Molly." Molly smiled back at him and placed a cup of tea next to his plate. She also gave on to Malfoy, albeit a little stiffer than she had when giving Moody his. Malfoy didn't seem to notice though and was staring at his plate intently. He gave her a small smile but continued his fascinated watching of the blank china. Harry relaxed when Moody did not say anything else and began eating his bacon again.

That was obviously when the bomb shell would hit...

"So how's the training going Alastor?" Mr Weasley asked mildly. Harry immediately began choking on his bacon. Mrs Weasley rushed round to pound him on the back as he gasped for breath. His eyes were watering from the pain of Molly's hits but thankfully the piece of bacon had gone down. He took a swallow of water and shook his head at Hermione and Mr Weasley's looks of concern. Ron was sniggering at his red face, a fact which Harry decided to ignore as he steadfastly waited for Moody's reply.

"Not to good actually Arthur" Moody said gravely. Harry didn't know if he was imagining it but he could hear a faint note of amusement in Mad-Eye's voice. Bloody bastard probably knew Harry would choke. Harry frowned slightly but continued pushing food around on his plate.

"Why is that then Alastor?" Arthur Weasley asked genuinely concerned. Harry stiffened even more if that was possible. He could only hope that Moody wouldn't say anything about Harry refusing to help anymore. That would be humiliating beyond words. He laid down his fork on his table and looked up at Moody.

Mad-Eye was staring back at him calculating. Harry glared at him, knowing exactly what Moody was doing. He was trying to get Harry to either agree to help Malfoy again or he would humiliate him by telling the Weasleys what happened. Harry refused to be intimidated though. He glared back steadfastly into Moody's eyes and folded his arms. If Moody though that he could win this; he was sadly mistaken. Harry leant back slowly in his chair and raised an eyebrow challenging Moody. Of course he didn't want Moody to tell the Weasley's what happened but he'd be damned if he'd let Moody con him into going through that torture again.

Malfoy still hadn't said anything and was unmoving beside Harry. He couldn't care less what Malfoy was doing though. His attention was completely focussed on Moody.

"Alastor?" Arthur repeated confused. Moody glanced at him quickly then looked back at Harry. Harry did nothing though to stop Moody telling the Weasleys.

"Well Arthur..." Moody started. Harry rose quickly from the table and pushed away his seat. He wasn't going to sit there and listen to Moody complaining about his cowardice. He turned away quickly and went back upstairs, ignoring Hermione's inquiries if he was alright.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"Harry?" a voice questioned from outside his door. They had knocked quietly a few seconds ago but Harry had ignored them. He knew they would only come in and try to convince him to help Moody again.

There wasn't any more noise from outside his door so Harry assumed they had gone away. Good, he thought, it was better this way. He was completely surprised though when Hermione walked straight in and sat on his bed uninvited. He gaped at her slightly, never knowing Hermione to be so forward. Actually...no he had.

She sat crossed legged opposite Harry and waited expectantly. Silence rang around the room for a few minutes as neither occupant spoke. Finally getting too impatient, Harry huffed and rolled his eyes at Hermione.

"Was there something you wanted?" he asked sarcastically. Hermione smiled unexpectedly and surveyed Harry's room.

"Well I came in to see if you were alright...but there's obviously something on your mind" she replied, "Do you want to talk about it?" Harry turned his head and glared at the door. She should already know what was on his mind thanks to Moody. He kept silent and pretended to be incredibly fascinated by a stray thread in his duvet. He picked at it with his fingers, pulling it until it unravelled slightly.

"What does it feel like when you...you know?" Hermione asked unexpectedly. Harry looked up at her sharply, caught completely unawares by the question. He thought about it for a few seconds. Did she really want to know what it was like or was this a plot to get him to do what Moody wanted? No, he decided, this was Hermione. She wouldn't manipulate him like Moody.

"You know his powers run on emotions right?" he said slowly. Hermione nodded her attention fully on Harry now. He thought about what he wanted to say, how he would explain things to her. "Basically I'm meant to help him control them but I just...can't! There's too many of them and they're so strong!" Harry was on a roll now and couldn't stop the endless stream of words coming from his mouth. "I remember horrible things, things I never want to think about again. I just can't do it Hermione! I make things so much worse for him! Last time I nearly made him set the room on fire!" He paused for breath, his voice shaky and his hands were trembling slightly.

Hermione looked at him thoughtfully. "Are you doing it right?" she asked finally. Harry looked at her puzzled. How would he know if he was doing it right? There wasn't exactly anybody to tell him what he was doing wrong, unfortunately. He shrugged his shoulders at her and went back to his duvet plucking.

"Harry" she said firmly. Harry reluctantly looked up at her forceful tone. "Why don't you talk about it with Moody" she suggested, "I think he knows more about it than he's letting on." She left the room after this rather cryptic statement, leaving Harry puzzled and confused.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

For the second time, Harry grasped that formidable door handle. He had decided to try one last time. If it didn't work then that wasn't his fault. Nobody had taught him what to do so they couldn't 

blame him because things weren't happening the way everybody wanted them to. His resolve was solid as he twisted the handle and pushed open the door. He stepped inside to find...

...it utterly empty.

Well that was helpful. Harry was about to leave when a voice sounded behind him.

"We'll be working outside today Potter. More wind" Moody barked gruffly. Harry just managed to not jump a mile and turned round calmly. Moody had already walked off though, leaving Harry to follow him.

They reached the back door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place fairly quickly and ventured outside. Harry stepped into the biting cold and spotted the familiar blonde hair. He steeled his nerves and joined Moody beside Malfoy. Both wizards calmly accepted Harry's presence and did not comment on the last training session they had. Something Harry was grateful for.

"Potter, we're going to summon wind. You know what to do" Moody said calmly. Harry shook his head frustrated.

"Yes, but what exactly do you want me to do!?" he said stressed, "The last two attempts obviously didn't work very well!" he broke off panting, not wanting to bring up the last session. Moody just continued looking at Harry speculatively.

"Just try to..._filter_ his emotions" he said cryptically and then sealed himself off in his protective bubble. Harry growled softly before moving hesitantly closer to Malfoy. How the hell did you filter emotions? He grasped Malfoy's arm a little harder because of his anger but softened his grip when Malfoy winced. Harry closed his eyes, waiting for the rush of emotions to come.

Desperation overflowed him. _What if he did it wrong again? What if he actually made Malfoy hurt someone? Harry always hurt people. Like Sirius...and Cedric. Oh God! He was going to get Malfoy killed! He was going to get the whole Order killed!_

A small whimper broke through Harry's lips unnoticed.

_Everything would go wrong, like it always did. Voldemort would win and then everyone Harry loved would get killed. The Weasleys, Hermione, his friends at Hogwarts. All would be killed because Harry couldn't control his emotions._

A lash of wind on his left cheek broke Harry's thoughts for a second before the desperation rose higher than before. It multiplied in Harry, building from his darkest thoughts and fears. Things he never told anybody else; worries that he wouldn't be good enough to defeat Voldemort, worries that he would fail everybody. Right before it consumed him though, he managed to shove it away violently through some small link he hadn't seen in his mind before. Wait... Maybe the desperation wasn't his in the first place! Maybe it was Malfoy's! That would make much more sense than Harry panicking for no reason. Desperation was obviously needed to summon wind!

Harry just had time to open his eyes quickly after registering this before Malfoy shoved himself away from him. Harry backed away nervously. Malfoy's eyes were wild and he was looking right and left violently. The wind had risen to gale force now and it threatened to grab Harry in its clutches and 

shake him about. Worry rose in Harry again, but nothing like what it had been before. No this felt like normal anxiety over the fact that an element controlling wizard looked out of control and he was around him, completely unprotected.

Harry felt sick as another realisation hit him. If the desperation had been Malfoy's...obviously Harry had made it worse. And oh God! He had given it back to him ten times stronger.

Just as he thought this, a crushing blow struck his chest- he felt himself flying backwards, and then heard a crunching noise as his head and body came in contact with a tree. He was too stunned to feel the pain yet and just sank down weakly to the floor. Some of the tree had splintered and was on the grass beside him.

The pain started to come to him then, his ribs burnt and he couldn't breathe. Through the pain of his ribs though, he could feel warm wetness spreading through his hair and down his face with alarming speed. He could feel it dripping down into his eyes and onto his shirt. The smell of it turned his stomach slightly.

Harry slid the rest of the way to the floor, unable to stop himself falling even as his ribs burned in protest. He would have screamed because of the pain but he still couldn't breathe. He could feel the blood spreading into a puddle around his head. As his vision wavered worryingly and the flow of blood sucked his consciousness away with it, Harry could only hope that the pain would be over soon.

As if from underwater, Harry heard sobs. Droplets of water hit his cold skin lightly.

He tried to raise his hand to comfort the person crying...but it only rose several centimetres before dropping straight to the ground beside him. His eyes closed and he lay still.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Cliffhanger...**

**I know. I hate it when other authors do this. But hey they do have a purpose. Review if you wish Harry to live :P**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Apparently people didn't want Harry to die...so they reviewed a lot :P Thank you to everybody that has so far! You make my day!**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry vaguely became aware of a hand stroking his. He struggled to surface from the darkness that enveloped him. Somebody was speaking softly next to him, but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He couldn't find his lips to tell them he was awake. He hardly felt like he could breathe through the deep water that was pressing on him.

There was a point of pressure against the top of his head. It hurt. Harry cried out slightly, breaking through the dark pool. As he became more awake, other pains made themselves known.

"He'll be fine Mr Malfoy" Madam Pomfrey reassured, her voice breaking through the muffling cloud that seemed to be around Harry's head. "His head is a little tender and he lost quite a lot of blood, but he should make a full recovery." Harry felt the warmth surrounding his hand disappear and heard footsteps walk away from his bed.

Nothing was registering though and Harry struggled to even open his eyes. Finally, they fluttered open and he blinked up at Madam Pomfrey's concerned face. The light stung his eyes slightly but he blinked away the moisture that had gathered there.

"How are you feeling Mr Potter?" she asked kindly, fussing over his blankets.

Harry assessed himself quickly. His ribs hurt a little bit but it was mainly his head that ached. It was a constant headache that had spread from the cut in the back of his head to the back of his eyes. He relayed the various pains to Madam Pomfrey and she rushed off to gather potions from her kit.

He struggled to sit up, wincing as his ribs creaked painfully in protest. He managed however, and slumped back into his pillows gratefully. At least he was in an upright position now and could see the rest of his room. He appeared to be in the room he shared with Ron, not the Hospital wing as he first assumed when he saw Madam Pomfrey. The familiar Chudley Cannons posters were stuck haphazardly on the walls along with various pictures of Hermione, Ron and Harry. He surveyed the rest of the room puzzled. He vaguely remembered going outside...but apart from that his mind was a complete blank. Thinking about it just made his head hurt.

The door creaked open as Madam Pomfrey came shuffling back in, now laden with various types of potions in her hands. Harry eyed the bottles suspiciously. His experiences with potions hadn't been the most pleasant. Skele-Grow for example, had been extremely unpleasant. Madam Pomfrey poured some potion onto a spoon and Harry reluctantly opened his potion. He was pleasantly surprised when the faint taste of honey and lemon made its way down the back of his throat. He hummed appreciatively and winced almost instantly as his head hurt at the sound. The pain quickly faded away as the potion took hold.

"That will take away any pain you're feeling at the moment Mr Potter," she said firmly, "And this one will replenish the blood you have lost. We gave you some when you were first brought in but you're about ready for your second dose."

Harry obediently opened his mouth and spluttered as the mixture bubbled unpleasantly in his mouth. He choked it down however, coughing as the potion made its way down to his stomach. Madam Pomfrey was watching him with equal measures of amusement and exasperation. Harry wiped his watering eyes with the back of his hand and scowled at her. She just ignored him and busied herself with removing his bandages around his ribs. She clucked her tongue as bruises became visible around his abdomen and chest.

"You always seem to get into trouble Mr Potter" she reprimanded, "I don't know what you were thinking when you went outside with Mr Malfoy!"

Oh. Malfoy...wind...Moody...the tree. Harry winced as the memories came back. He couldn't believe he had forgotten all that. A small tendril of fear buried itself into his chest. He'd promised himself that he'd refuse to help Malfoy anymore if one more thing happened. Being blasted into a tree definitely counted as one more 'bad' thing. Worry niggled at his mind and looked swiftly at Madam Pomfrey again.

"Is Malfoy alright?" he asked hesitantly. Madam Pomfrey shook her head at him and Harry's heart clenched painfully. He let out a sigh of relief however, as she continued.

"That's very noble of you Mr Potter, but you're the one in bed with broken ribs and a head injury. Mr Malfoy is perfectly fine."

Apparently she had been shaking her head at Harry not Malfoy's condition. Harry relaxed into the pillows and he contemplated his situation. He was relieved that Malfoy wasn't hurt and he could very well have been because of Harry's stupid actions. Granted, Harry hadn't had any idea what he was doing but that didn't ease his guilt much. The force of the wind Malfoy had shot at him was incredible. It felt like a ton weight had just been thrown headfirst into his chest. It both astonished and scared Harry. How could he ever feel comfortable helping Malfoy now that he knew what he was capable of?

He chewed his lip. McGonagall had told them of the level of Malfoy's powers but Harry had clearly underestimated them. If Harry did continue to help him, how could he be sure that Malfoy wouldn't hurt him again? His eyes darkened at the thought. Malfoy was essentially a Death Eater. Sure, he had apparently changed sides but as he had demonstrated when he woke up in the library, he still had quite a big grudge against Harry.

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about Malfoy anymore. He was still furious with him because he let Death Eaters into the school but he had come to realise that Malfoy was a person as well. He was still an annoying, spoilt prat of course, but a person nonetheless.

Madam Pomfrey tapped his elbow impatiently and Harry nearly jumped out of his skin.

"You were away with the fairies then," she teased, "You have a visitor by the way." She nodded towards the door where Moody was standing. Harry gazed at him apprehensively. As if sensing the tension in the room, Madam Pomfrey excused herself and left. Moody stepped into the room and closed the door firmly behind him. Harry locked eyes with him, refusing to break eye contact first. He blamed Moody for making him do this in the first place. Moody took a seat on Ron's bed and coughed slightly.

Nobody said anything for a while until Moody broke the uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry" he muttered gruffly. Harry stared at him surprised. He did think it was Moody's fault but he hadn't expected him to apologise. Moody stared unwaveringly back at him until Harry dropped his eyes a little nervously. "I thought you would be able to work it out by yourself but I was wrong." Harry quickly glared at Moody. So he wasn't apologising at all! He was saying that it was Harry's fault!

"What do you mean 'work it out myself'!?" he asked heatedly, "You didn't tell me _what_ to work out! I was going in there blind with no idea of what to do!" He glared at Moody who to his credit didn't look the least bit intimidated. He merely waved his hand vaguely at Harry's annoyance.

"I didn't mean that Potter" he barked, "I should have realised that you needed more of a demonstration rather than an explanation." Harry rolled his eyes. Since when had Moody explained anything? A thought occurred to him. How on earth was Moody supposed to _show_ him anything?! He shuffled nervously away from Moody as he suddenly stood up and moved towards Harry. He reached out a scarred hand and grasped Harry's shoulder tightly. Harry winced slightly at the pain but then his eyes widened.

His pain and anger began to drain away. It felt amazing. All the frustration at himself and the fear of Malfoy began to leech away as Moody continued to clutch Harry's arm. Harry stared astonished at Moody's face. It was completely peaceful which astonished Harry. He remembered the flow of emotions that had engulfed him. How on earth was Moody doing this? Moody released his shoulder and sat down again, his face unreadable.

"How the _hell_ did you do that?" Harry stuttered out, Moody opened his mouth to answer when Harry interrupted him again, "Actually, why on earth do I need to help when _you_ can do that?!"

Moody's expression was contemplative. He frowned slightly as if wondering if he should tell Harry or not. As the silence stretched on, Harry started to get annoyed. They could have avoided the whole fiasco if Moody had used _his_ apparent empathic abilities instead of making Harry use his. Harry was about to chew him out when Moody began to speak.

"I needed you to learn how to use yours. We don't know much about Malfoy but we know he's more likely to open up with you rather than an ex Auror." That did make some sense but it didn't soothe Harry's anger any. In fact something Moody said increased his irritation.

"What do you mean 'we'?" he asked scowling. He had a pretty good idea who else would be in on this scheme but he hoped to God he was wrong. He knew he wasn't though. Who else would know how to manipulate Harry's feelings so well?

"McGonagall and I" Moody answered slowly, "We needed to make sure that Malfoy was telling the truth."

Harry knew it. He shook his head at his own stupidity. Of course McGonagall would be in on it. She was Harry's head of house for seven years so she would know Harry well. He looked back at Moody. He didn't seem sorry for his actions, but he did seem a little guilty about Harry getting hurt.

He gave him a contemplative look. What exactly was he meant to do from here then? Continue helping Malfoy or refuse because of McGonagall and Moody's manipulation?

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

A few hours after Moody left, Harry stumbled out of bed. He didn't want to stay in bed any longer than was necessary. If he was going to do this, he had to do it soon or he'd lose his nerve. He'd spent the last hour or so pondering his choice.

Moody had left soon after telling Harry the truth. Harry still didn't know how he felt about being manipulated, yet again, but he knew he shouldn't take it out on Malfoy because of their actions. He obviously needed his help. Granted, Moody could do a better job than Harry but he did have a point when he told Harry that Malfoy would open up better with Harry than him.

He slipped on some jeans and a shirt quickly. If Madam Pomfrey came in now his chance of escaping would go out the window and he'd be stuck in bed for the rest of the day. Harry needed to know if he could do this. If not then that was fine and Moody could help him. But if Harry could help him, maybe he'd have a chance to find out more about the Death Eaters and their motives. More importantly he needed to know what Malfoy's motives were.

He had told Ron and Hermione his plan when they had visited him earlier. Hermione was surprisingly disapproving of his plan and said that he was being as bad as McGonagall and Moody, something that had Harry gobsmacked. Ron on the other hand, was extremely supportive. Not that Harry thought he wouldn't be, considering Ron would do anything to get one over on Malfoy.

Harry put on his shoes quickly and walked downstairs. He guessed that Malfoy and Moody would probably be outside training again. He walked out the back door and to his surprise, Moody wasn't there. A familiar Slytherin with platinum blonde hair was however. He was standing next to one of the trees with his head bowed. Harry was unsure how to approach, not knowing if Malfoy wanted company or not. He made up his mind quickly though and walked swiftly to Malfoy.

He managed to get a foot away before Malfoy's head came up suddenly. He spun around to face Harry. Upon seeing it was Harry, he gave a weak sneer and turned around again. Harry stood still unsure of what to do next. He couldn't force Malfoy to do this with him because obviously they were Malfoy's powers not Harry's.

"Come to beat me up for hurting you Potter?" Malfoy suddenly sneered, albeit a little unsteadily. It didn't have the same hate that Harry had to come to associate with Malfoy but it was more the actual question that surprised him. He looked at the back of Malfoy's head speechless.

"No" he answered when he finally got his voice back, "I came to see if you wanted to practice."

A few seconds went past before Malfoy turned around, an incredulous expression on his face. "After what I did to you, you still want to practice? Jesus Potter, Gryffindors are stupider than I thought" Malfoy said flatly. He turned around again but Harry caught his elbow gently.

"Just try to light a small fire" he said, staring intently into Malfoy's face, "I think I know what to do now." Harry did know as well. At least he thought he did. He had analysed what Moody had done to him and vaguely worked out what to do.

Malfoy looked unconvinced but closed his eyes nonetheless. He took a deep breath and let it out again.

This time Harry didn't steel himself against the rush of emotions but instead let them come. Anger poured out of Malfoy but Harry didn't let it affect him. Instead he _filtered_ the amount of anger rushing through Malfoy, taking out small amounts and letting them go. He didn't fight the emotion, didn't let it smother him, just let it run through him. It was if he knew it wasn't his anger and was detached from it.

As Harry watched, Malfoy hesitantly raised a finger and pointed at a spot on the ground.

A small fire flickered into life.

Harry smiled triumphantly.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Tell me what you think guys :) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**I think it's about time to see Malfoy in action? Is anybody with me?**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

The small fire flickered out abruptly as Malfoy lowered his hand slowly.

Exhaustion washed over Harry and he collapsed weakly to the ground. He'd obviously pushed himself too far. As he fell, Malfoy's eyes snapped open and he clutched Harry quickly. Not quick enough though and Malfoy managed to slump to the ground with Harry, overbalanced by his weight.

Harry struggled to breathe steadily, tiredness making his eyelids slide shut. He managed to catch a glimpse of Malfoy's worried face before succumbing to the exhaustion overpowering him. Malfoy's expression actually stumped him a little. Harry thought the prat would be cheering because Harry fainted instead of attempting to catch him so he didn't hurt himself falling.

His last thought as the darkness overwhelmed him, oddly wasn't about Malfoy. No, it was '_Madam Pomfrey is going to have my ass for this'._

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"You are in big trouble, mate" Ron stated as Harry's eyes drifted open.

He groaned loudly at the voice before burrowing his head under his pillow. It didn't work very well thought as he could still hear Ron's voice through the obstacle.

"I've never seen Madam Pomfrey so angry! She came in to ask us where you were" Ron nattered on, "Of course we had no idea where you were. We were under the impression you were still in bed" Ron's voice darkened slightly with anger. "We all panicked and then found _you_ collapsed on the floor with _Malfoy_! Merlin Harry, what the hell were you doing out there with him?!" Ron sounded disgusted now.

Harry sighed quietly under his pillow. He actually felt better than he had in days. His body obviously needed the rest. "How long have I been asleep?" he asked ignoring Ron's speech. He knew Madam Pomfrey would be angry at him, but he did what he needed to do. He took his head from under the pillow and looked at Ron.

Ron scowled at him, but answered his question nonetheless. "About two days. I don't know what the bloody hell Malfoy did to you, but it left you exhausted! And you were already injured!" Ron said grimly.

Two days? It hardly felt like half an hour to Harry. God, no wonder Madam Pomfrey was annoyed at him. He pushed his quilt off him and got out of bed quickly. Maybe he could hide somewhere. He really didn't want to be there when she...

"Harry Potter!" Madam Pomfrey screeched from the doorway, "Where do you think you're going now?" Harry froze. He looked at her guiltily.

"Nowhere" he answered innocently, "Just...trying to get some exercise in."

Madam Pomfrey glared at him. Harry could feel himself shrinking under her gaze. She could be bloody scary when she wanted to be.

"Exercise is all well and good Mr Potter, but not when you're a patient of mine and trying to recover" she frowned at him before bustling over. She waved her wand rapidly over his body. The spells tickled slightly and Harry fidgeted under them. Finally, Madam Pomfrey appeared satisfied and lowered her wand.

"Well you appear to be fine. Any pains and you come straight to me though, you hear?!" she scowled at him until he nodded his head rapidly. Ron snickered behind him but stopped abruptly when Madam Pomfrey looked at him.

She left the room and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He made his way over to his wardrobe and pulled out some clothes to wear today.

"Bloody hell Harry" Ron laughed behind him, "You have to beat Voldemort...but you can't even stand up to Madam Pomfrey!" Harry mock scowled at him and threw a pair of socks at his head. Ron was laughing too hard to duck so they hit him on the head. He immediately threw them back at Harry and so a sock fight ensued.

"You can talk Ron!" Harry retorted, "I could feel your shaking all the way over here!" Ron glared back and ducked as another projectile sock flew his way.

"Not that I blame you mate," Harry continued, "Madam Pomfrey is about as scary as..." Ron and Harry looked at each other.

"Hermione!" they burst out simultaneously.

"What about me?" she asked dangerously from the doorway. Harry and Ron looked guiltily down at their shoes.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry was welcomed warmly by the Order as he walked into dinner that night. They had heard what had happened from McGonagall. Some of them were pleased with Harry's achievements, others were resentful towards Malfoy for injuring their 'Saviour'. Harry got a little fed up with the amount of times he had to insist to people that no, Malfoy didn't lure him into the garden and force him to train and yes, he did go there of his own free will.

He sat down for dinner beside Ron that night, feeling rather ravenous. He had eaten in the day between flying with Ron and reading with Hermione. They had both been glad that he was alright and eager to spend time with him now that he was well again.

Molly had excelled herself tonight. She too was pleased that Harry was better again so in his honour, had made quite a feast. The Order complimented her on her efforts. The entire Order hadn't of course, joined them for dinner. In fact, dinner consisted of; the Weasley family, Moody, McGonagall, Kingsley, Tonks, Remus, Harry and oddly, Malfoy.

Harry looked at him surprised when he sat down and found him on sitting on his left side. Apparently, according to Ron, his mother had invited him. She was feeling a lot less antagonistic towards Malfoy now that she knew he didn't have anything to do with Harry's collapse. Well, the second one at least.

Malfoy looked very uncomfortable sitting at the table. Actually, now that Harry thought about it, Malfoy hadn't attended a meal with them yet. He worriedly wondered if Malfoy had been eating. He scanned Malfoy quickly, but quickly stopped when Malfoy looked at him. He gave Harry a smirk and Harry flushed brilliantly. Malfoy didn't look like he'd lost weight recently. He was slightly skinnier than Harry remembered from Hogwarts, which was a little worrying considering he'd looked terrible last time Harry had seen him.

Harry didn't really want to think about that.

Anyway, Molly wouldn't have let him starve, no matter how horrible he had been towards her family previously. She was just too nice for that. Speaking of Molly, she bustled in, weighed down by a dozen or so plates full of stew. Her children and Harry immediately jumped up to help her with them. She thanked them breathlessly and went off to gather more. Harry snagged a plate for Malfoy as well, knowing that no one else would get him one.

He wasn't sure why he was helping Malfoy, but he couldn't deny that the bewildered, and oddly grateful, look Malfoy gave him warmed him inside. Harry waited until Molly was seated with her food before digging in to his. It was deliciously warm and just what Harry needed. He was about halfway through his meal when Moody decided to drop the bomb on the table.

"I heard from Mundungus that the Death Eaters are planning another attack tomorrow" he said gruffly. Harry felt Malfoy stiffen beside him and he put down his fork gently. His appetite was quickly diminishing now. The only person still actually eating was Ron but then again, nothing ever came between Ron and his food.

"Potter" Moody barked at him. Harry raised his eyebrow inquiring before nodding. "Some of the Order are insisting that you and Malfoy help out with this one. They apparently think he should prove his worth" he sneered out this last bit, supposedly disapproving of the whole situation. Because he wanted to protect Malfoy or because he thought it was stupid revealing one of their hidden talents, Harry didn't know.

Harry felt a little worried. He had only managed to work with Malfoy correctly once. In a real battle he would need to be able to cast spells _and_ filter Malfoy's emotions. Maybe when Malfoy had more control over his powers he wouldn't need to do this, but right now he needed Harry's help. It was ridiculous to ask the two of them to be ready for tomorrow.

Malfoy's breath was coming out in short pants next to Harry and he could feel the fear radiating off him. The room's temperature was dropping rapidly as well. Blindly, without thinking what he was doing, Harry reached for Malfoy's hand and grasped it tightly, comforting him as well as controlling his powers.

Malfoy immediately breathed a sigh of relief and the room's temperature rose again. Hermione was giving Harry an inquiring look from across the table but Harry shook his head slightly at her. He wasn't going to explain now; he needed to listen to Moody.

"The attack is going to be on Hogsmeade" he barked. Molly Weasley gasped at this and clutched her heart. She was obviously thinking about the children that would surely be there as well as all of the shop keepers. Fred and George exchanged solemn looks as well and Harry remembered belatedly that they owned a shop there.

Visions of 'U-No-Poo' posters flashed in Harry's mind. He bloody hoped that Fred and George didn't have anything like that on the front of their Hogsmeade shop. Knowing the twins, they probably did though. Ron was looking equally anxious at them, so he had obviously had the same thoughts as Harry.

Malfoy squeezed Harry's hand once before dropping it. Harry jumped slightly in surprise, quite forgetting that he had been still holding Malfoy's hand. He glanced towards Malfoy but he was looking attentively at Moody. He'd apparently already gotten over his terror at the prospect of a battle. He looked determined now, an expression Harry mostly associated with quidditch.

"Potter," Moody said loudly. Harry looked at him startled. He'd obviously been daydreaming instead of listening to Moody. The rest of the table were looking at him as well, which made Harry flush deeply. Tonks was grinning at him across the table and the rest of the Order looked amused at Harry's expression.

"Sorry, what?" he apologised to Moody.

Moody gave him a half amused, half exasperated look before rolling his eyes. Eye. "You and Malfoy are going to need to practice tonight alright? I'm going to need to see your progress." Harry nodded a little reluctantly at him before glancing at Malfoy. He was also nodding at Moody even though he hadn't actually addressed him.

Harry pushed his plate away from him and stood up. Malfoy followed suit. "We might as well start now" he said tiredly.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Big chapter next time! Review and I'll update super quick for you!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**I'm amazed- and very pleased- at the amount of people that have put an alert on this story.**

**I'm dedicating this chapter to Mr. Rainbows. Their death threats and reviews keep me motivated. As promised I'm updating quickly.**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"Potter," Malfoy panted, "I can't do this anymore"

Harry opened his eyes wearily and gazed at Malfoy. He did look exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes and his skin was pale. Harry dropped his hand from Malfoy's arm and stretched slowly. They'd been training for hours now. Moody had observed for the first hour before going to bed, the lucky bastard.

Harry knew they didn't have that luxury yet, even if Malfoy didn't realise it. "Malfoy, we_ need _practice more. The most you can do at the moment is get the Death Eaters wet." Malfoy scowled at Harry and folded his arms.

"I'm sure I can figure out something for tomorrow, Potter" he sneered, "I doubt we're going to come up with a new technique in the next twenty minutes because that is all the time I'm planning on giving you" Harry glared back at Malfoy before sighing in defeat.

He had a point. Besides, turning up for the battle tomorrow exhausted wouldn't improve their chance any. It would just make Harry an easier target.

"Okay" he said softly, "If you can't do anymore then we'll just go to bed."

Malfoy arched an eyebrow.

"Not like that!" Harry corrected quickly, "I'll be going upstairs to _my_ bed and you'll be going..." Harry frowned puzzled at Malfoy. "Actually, where do you sleep?" Harry couldn't remember ever seeing Malfoy upstairs. Ever.

Malfoy looked down at his feet. "There's a bedroom next to this room" he muttered. Harry racked his brains. He didn't remember there being a room next to this one. He vaguely remembered a small study...

"Malfoy! Why didn't anyone give you a room upstairs?" he said shocked. McGonagall couldn't possibly know that Malfoy was sleeping in a study!

Malfoy's shoes were apparently fascinating to him. "That woman...Hestia...said I'd be less trouble down here" Harry's blood boiled. What gave her the right to order people about in _his_ house?! A small tendril of guilt curled in his stomach. He hadn't exactly made an effort to make Malfoy comfortable. In a small way he supposed he was still blaming Malfoy for Dumbledore's death. He knew he shouldn't though. Malfoy hadn't killed him after all, it had been Snape.

He looked at Malfoy sharply.

"Ignore her" Harry's voice was hard. "I'm sure there's a room upstairs I can find for you."

Malfoy seemed uncomfortable. "You don't have to. I know people are uneasy because I'm here. I shouldn't have come..." Harry walked briskly over to him and grabbed his arm tightly. He pressed hard enough to make Malfoy wince.

"Don't say that" Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You made the right decision. For what reasons, I'm not sure" Malfoy glanced up uneasily at Harry but Harry cut him off before he could say anything. "And I don't want to know, alright? As long as you're on our side now, that's all that matters."

Malfoy nodded slowly and dropped his head. Harry released his arm and turned towards the door.

"Come on" he called over his shoulder, "I'll find you a room."

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry lay flat on his back, breathing hard as though he had been sprinting. He had awoken from a vivid dream with his hands pressed over his face. His scar was burning beneath his fingers which told him that his dream had been no ordinary dream. It felt like someone had pressed a burning rod to his forehead.

He sat up, one hand still on his scar, the other reaching put for his glasses on the bedside table. He put them on and the room came into focus, lit by the dim orange light from outside. Harry could hear Ron snoring from the other side of the room. He let out a slow breath and pressed his scar again. It still hurt.

He tried to recall what the vision had been about this time. He was worried that he'd had another one. He'd learnt Occlumency with the help of Moody and Lupin, so he shouldn't have been having any more visions of Voldemort.

He rubbed his face tiredly. Voldemort had been happy about something. Probably the attack today. He was expecting something, wanting something to be revealed to him...It was all a blur to Harry now. The details mixed in together and left a vague picture in his mind. Oddly, it had seemed to be about Snape again...something about Snape doing something bad. Harry was confused. He thought Snape was one of Voldemort's most hallowed followers but apparently he had done something to make Voldemort furious.

He lowered his hands from his face. They were shaking slightly so Harry pressed them firmly against the bed sheet. He didn't need this right now. From the light outside, Harry guessed it to be around dawn. He and Malfoy had been training till about one last night and hadn't gotten very far. The only really good thing that had come out of the session was that Harry had managed to be able to cast spells _and_ siphon off some of Malfoy's emotions.

He figured if they trained hard enough, maybe Harry wouldn't even have to touch Malfoy. They hadn't managed to pull that off last night, but maybe with more practice they'd be able to.

Harry swung his legs out of bed and dressed quietly. Ron would probably sleep for a few more hours but Harry needed to get up now. The attack was meant to be at noon when the maximum amount of 

people would be shopping at Hogsmeade. Harry was disgusted that the Death Eaters would be attacking children as well. He shuddered and made his way downstairs. He doubted anybody would be up yet.

As he reached the kitchen, he was surprised to find Malfoy sitting at the table looking morose. He looked when Harry entered the room and gave him a wry smile. Harry nodded in greeting and set about to make a cup of tea.

"You want one?" he said, pointing at the kettle. Malfoy nodded absently whilst twirling his wand in his hands. Harry was a little surprised that Malfoy had been granted his wand back. Not that he thought it was a bad idea. Malfoy would, after all, need it if he was attacked and when he was fighting the Death Eaters.

The stairs creaked a moment later, Hermione entered the kitchen. She smiled brightly at Harry before giving Malfoy a stiff nod. Surprisingly, Malfoy smiled weakly back at her before bringing his attention back to his wand. Harry was pleased that they were making an effort to tolerate each other, albeit a slightly cold one, but an effort nonetheless. Considering what a prat Malfoy had been in Hogwarts towards Hermione- and Harry- it was surprising that she was even considering being polite to him, but then Hermione was a girl. And girls to Harry were mysterious beings that worked in mysterious ways...rather like Dumbledore actually.

"Morning Harry!" she greeted brightly, "Malfoy." Harry replied equally brightly and responded to her quick hug. He knew Hermione always got very nervous before battles. If Harry nipped the anxiety in the bud now, she wouldn't come to him and Ron later, sobbing her eyes out. He patted her gently on the back and released her when the kettle clicked. He probably could have boiled the water with magic but he really wanted something to do with his hands at the moment. The vision kept interrupting his thoughts. Most of it he had probably forgot, but there was one image that stuck out brightly in his mind; Snape locked in chains.

He shuddered lightly before grabbing the counter with his hands. He stared out of the window, deep in thought. He thought that the dream he had was a vision but then again, it could just be a regular nightmare. If Snape was fighting in the battle today then he knew his dream was wrong. If he wasn't...well Harry was too sure what he'd do about that. It wasn't really his problem. He though Snape bloody deserved everything he got. No, he wasn't going to tell anyone about his dream.

"Harry?" Hermione sounded worried.

Harry forced himself to pick up the kettle calmly and pour the water into three cups. "Yeah?" he replied. He put three tea bags in and leant on the counter.

"Are you alright?" she asked suspiciously. Damn Hermione being so smart.

"Sure" he lied easily and turned round. He plastered an easy smile on his face, one that didn't quite reach his eyes, but looked a passable imitation for a smile. If he told Hermione about his dream, he knew she'd go all worried on him and start insisting he tell everyone. But no, there was no one he could tell anymore. No one that would understand anyway.

She gave him a suspicious look but let it go thankfully. Oddly, Malfoy was searching Harry's face as well. Harry forced himself to raise an eyebrow at Malfoy before turning around again. He took out the teabags and poured in some milk, all the while feeling Malfoy's eyes burning into the back of his head. He ignored him though and put the cups on the table. Hermione accepted hers gratefully, but Malfoy was still looking at Harry.

"What?!" Harry finally snapped impatiently. He was making Harry nervous, staring at him. If he kept it up, Hermione would realise something was wrong and start nagging him.

Malfoy arched an eyebrow at his tone.

"You look like crap, Potter" he said bluntly, "You have bags under your eyes and you look like you haven't slept." Harry's hands clutched his cup tightly. He could see Hermione glaring at Malfoy from the corner of his eye.

"Erm...thanks for that Malfoy" he replied striving for a sarcastic tone, "Just what I need to hear in the morning"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap, Potter. I know something's wrong" He narrowed his eyes at Harry. Harry fidgeted under his gaze before shrugging his shoulders easily.

"Just worried about today" he said morosely. That certainly put a damper on the atmosphere in the room as all three of them began thinking about it.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

On Kingsley's count of three, Harry gripped his wand tightly and apparated to Hogsmeade. The atmosphere was quiet. Everybody had been warned away from the village today. The shopkeepers were either hidden inside their houses or conveniently visiting relatives. The Order had made sure people weren't going to be around when chaos broke out.

Harry moved to a more sheltered place with Malfoy and Ron. Kingsley and Moody had ordered them to stay hidden. When Malfoy used his powers, it would confuse the Death Eaters without making Malfoy and Harry a target. Hopefully the Death Eaters would just think that the Order was using advanced spells they had never heard of.

Some of the Order, funnily enough the part that didn't want Malfoy to stay, were insistent that Malfoy come out in the open to use his powers. They thought that the Death Eaters would be 'cowered' at the display of power.

Harry remembered snorting in their faces.

Anyway, Malfoy and Harry were ordered to apparate out of there if something bad went wrong. According to Kingsley, Harry was too valuable to be fighting anyway. Only because Harry argued that Malfoy would not be able to use his powers without him, was he allowed to come. Strictly speaking, this wasn't completely true. Malfoy could use his powers without Harry; they just weren't as effective yet.

Ron was meant to be Harry's back up. He was glaring disgustedly at Malfoy's back as they made their way to an alleyway. Harry rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything to Ron. It was better Ron got out his anger by just glaring rather than more physical approaches. They reached the dark alleyway and crouched behind a few bins.

All they had to do now was wait for the Death Eaters to show up.

Suddenly, Ron dropped to the ground unconscious. Harry whipped around confused, when a voice rang out across the quiet alleyway.

"Really, Draco" Lucius Malfoy hissed, "You're even consorting with _Weasleys_"

The rest of the Death Eaters apparated into Hogsmeade and resounding cracks sounded out.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Ooooh, it's getting interesting. At least, I hope so. You know what to do guys.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**Hopefully I'll get my 100****th**** review soon! Cookies for everybody that helps me obtain (or surpass) that target!**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"I have to say, Draco" Lucius continued, "It's definitely a surprise to see you...alive" His face darkened as he glared past Harry at Draco. Harry instinctively moved to the left so Draco was blocked slightly from Lucius' view.

Harry inwardly cursed. He knew something like this was going to bloody happen. The Order just _had _to send Malfoy in today didn't they. What surprised Harry was the fact that Lucius hadn't realised Malfoy was alive.

He shook his head mentally. He was going to have to call them by their first names or things would get very confusing. A scream behind him, had Harry tensing and gripping his wand tightly. The air felt cooler and he subtly touched Malf..._Draco's_ arm lightly. They really didn't need Lucius to know that Draco could control the elements. Not a fun conversation to have with your Psychopathic father.

Ron groaned slightly and Harry looked down worried. He was still unconscious so there was nothing Harry could do at the moment. He had bigger problems at the moment anyway. He just hoped that Lucius hadn't injured Ron too badly. He levelled his wand at Lucius steadily, his wand hand thankfully not betraying his fear.

"Now, now Potter" Lucius tutted patronisingly, "don't point that at people unless you're prepared to use it" Harry narrowed his eyes at Lucius, but refused to get riled up. The Order were busy behind him, and while it was just Lucius against him and Draco, Harry didn't want to risk Ron getting hurt in the cross fire. Not unless Harry could think of a way to protect Ron whilst somehow, miraculously, being able to duel Lucius. Harry had gotten better, but he was unsure he could take on Lucius Malfoy in a fair fight.

Not to mention Lucius was a Death Eater, which probably meant there wasn't any chance of him fighting Harry fairly anyway.

Lucius had his wand directed straight at Harry's heart, which was taking the opportunity to beat furiously. It sped up even more when Harry's ears picked up the sounds of people duelling behind them. He didn't know why none of the Order had noticed that Harry was cornered by Lucius Malfoy.

"So Draco..." Lucius continued suddenly, "have you had a good time with the Order?" He sneered the last bit and Harry stiffened in indignation. And horror. So Lucius had known what curse was going to be cast upon Draco. He'd let it happen as well. Harry didn't know what was worse; a father that would willingly let someone kill his only son...or a father that looked ready to do it himself. Unfortunately for Draco, Lucius looked like he was doing both.

Draco tensed sharply behind Harry. He couldn't turn his head to see how he was doing, but Harry could feel...ice crystals building up at the ends of Draco's fingers. That certainly hadn't happened before. Draco kept silent and Lucius sneered at him.

"Answer your father when he speaks to you!" he snarled out.

Harry glared fiercely at Lucius before raising his wand even higher. "I think you gave up all rights of being his father when you allow Voldemort to curse him" Harry's tone was mild, but even a fool could detect the undercurrent of fury beneath it.

Harry wasn't too worried about disguising it though, even as Draco stiffened and hissed slightly behind. He obviously thought that Harry shouldn't have said something so careless to Lucius...but really, Harry wasn't thinking too clearly at this time. He was worried about Ron and the Order, and Lucius Malfoy was just _pissing_ him off.

"I don't believe I was addressing you, Chosen One" Lucius sneered derisively back. His tone was harsh and patronising.

Harry buried his anger again and kept a pleasant smile on his face. They just needed to get through this until either an Order member came to help, or an opportunity to Apparate arose. Getting killed now, before Harry even had a chance to fight Voldemort was a very bad idea.

"Yes father, it's been...pleasant" Draco's voice was steady, but so quiet that Harry had to strain his ears to hear. He whipped his head around incredulously at Draco before turning around again. Lucius was smirking out right now, apparently gathering some perverse pleasure in the fact that Draco still called him 'father'. Harry thought the whole thing was sick personally, and would definitely be having some words with Draco when they got back to Grimmauld Place. _If _they got back to Grimmauld Place.

"Really?" Lucius replied unbelieving, "Surprising considering the amount of _Blood Traitors_ there" Lucius' gaze was burning, oddly not into Draco's, but Harry's eyes. He was obviously trying to bait Harry into cursing first. Harry couldn't figure out why though. Lucius could obviously take on Harry himself, what exactly was he waiting for? "You know Draco, I'm sure our Lord would accept you back willingly, if you just went back to him" he continued.

Harry froze.

What the hell was Lucius planning, inviting Draco back like that? After all he did, he couldn't honestly expect Draco to go back to him with arms wide open? Could he...?

Hearing no response- or specifically, no refusal- from Draco, Harry reluctantly turned back to look at Draco's face. He sucked in a breath harshly. It was a mixture of horror, reluctance and oddly...longing. What the hell was there to think about?! The Death Eaters had nearly killed him! Only by some strange occurrence had Draco survived the attack at all!

A crack rang out behind Lucius and Harry spun around quickly, cursing his stupidity for not being more aware. Another Death Eater was standing behind Lucius, his wand raised at Harry.

Harry had a split second to aim his own wand at the Death Eater, who was preparing to cast his own curse at Harry, when what looked like a snowball flew from his left right and hit the Death Eater full on. Harry watched in sick fascination as the snowball spread out and the man was encased fully in ice, his mouth wide open in shock. Harry slowly looked over his shoulder towards Draco.

Draco's face was horrified, his eyes locked onto the frozen Death Eater. His hand still stretched out in front of him.

"Well...that certainly clears up the matter of how you survived, Draco" Lucius' voice broke the silence. It was full of almost clinical detachment and Harry shuddered. He glanced back towards Lucius, finally realising why Lucius was trying to goad Harry but not attack him. He obviously wanted to see if Draco could...use the powers that Death Eaters had _given_ him. Harry raised his wand again quickly, finally realising he had lowered it when Draco had let loose that...Ice ball? Calling it a snowball made it seem sort of harmless. Harry couldn't work out whether he was horrified at Draco, or proud that he had managed to use his powers without Harry's help.

"I'm certain the Dark Lord would welcome you back now, Draco" Lucius stared unblinkingly at Draco.

Again silence rang out behind Harry. No agreement, thankfully...but no refusal either. Harry started to get irritated again.

"He doesn't want to accept you offer, Malfoy" Harry said to Lucius, his tone hard. If Draco wasn't going to say anything, Harry would answer for him.

A stray bolt of energy hit the dustbin next to Harry. It came from the battle behind them. It lit the rubbish and Harry jumped in surprise. He didn't take his eyes off Lucius though, even when smoke began to billow out from the lid. He wouldn't make the mistake of deviating his attention from Lucius again. He had almost missed the Death Eater before, and if it wasn't for Draco's quick thinking, Harry would definitely be a feeling a little dead right now.

"I think that's for Draco himself to decide" Lucius said charmingly, "Not you Potter"

The smoke was stinging Harry's eyes slightly and making his chest burn, but not too badly. He kept his eyes focussed on Lucius and waited for Draco's replied.

Suddenly, Kingsely Apparated behind Lucius and Harry's heart flooded with relief. He could only keep Lucius talking for so long...and to be honest, it sounded like Draco had been considering going back to the Death Eaters for a second there.

Harry moved fast and grabbed Draco's arm tightly. He took one last glance at Kingsley, who was duelling fiercely with Lucius now, before Side-Apparating Draco out of there.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry landed harshly because of his anger, on the grass in the back garden of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He was still holding Malfoy's arm and quickly pulled his inside the ward's boundaries. He stalked there quickly before throwing Malfoy's arm away from him. Malfoy stumbled back and before glaring at Harry indignantly. Granted, it wasn't as harsh as it usually was, probably due to the fear he had felt before, but it nonetheless stirred Harry's growing anger.

"What. The. _Fuck._ Was. That?" Harry spoke quietly, dangerously, his gaze steadily on Malfoy.

Malfoy glared back, before averting his eyes quickly. "I don't know what you mean Potter" He coughed quickly behind his hand and looked anywhere but at Harry.

"Don't give me that crap, Malfoy" Harry snarled suddenly, his quiet voice from before gone. "You were fucking considering going back to them! After all they did to you!" He stalked over to Malfoy and shoved him.

Malfoy didn't even fight back. He just coughed harshly behind his hand.

"Just give me a straight answer, Damn it! Why the hell would you want to go back to them?!" Harry yelled. Malfoy's silence was irritating him. If he could give Harry one _good_ reason why he should go back to the Death Eaters, Harry would at least try to understand his hesitation in front of his father. But he obviously couldn't! So why the fuck did he hesitate? Twice?!

Malfoy quickly looked up when Harry moved towards him again. "That's the point, Potter. I can't" Malfoy's voice was oddly raspy and he coughed into his hand again. Harry looked worriedly at him for a second but dismissed it quickly when Malfoy looked down meekly again. What the hell did Malfoy mean 'he can't' give Harry a reason?

"It's not that hard, Malfoy" he replied snidely, "you just open your fucking mouth, and words come out!" He clenched his fists tightly by his sides.

Malfoy looked up then, his cheeks pink with anger. He obviously hadn't liked Harry's condescending comment. "Let me put it this way, Potter. I can't give you any reason you'll _like!_"

Harry froze shocked. "Enlighten me" he said quietly.

Malfoy shuddered before shaking his head quickly. "Well, for starters no one here actually likes me! I'm shit on the bottom of their shoes to some of the Order. It won't matter how I'm meant to prove myself to them- though you would think using some deadly curse cast upon me in their favour would do it- they will never accept me! Most of them ignore me, all of them think of me as someone not to be trusted!" He panted shallowly, his nails obviously digging into his palms. "That's just the start of it Potter! For the last three days all I've done is train, train and then train some more! I'm fucking exhausted and it's all I can do not to fry Moody sometimes! Not to mention the next time I find another fucking man eating mouse in my bed, I will kill those Weasley twins!"

Malfoy broke off and coughed violently into his hand. Harry stood shocked. He knew people at the Order didn't like Malfoy. Hell Harry didn't like Malfoy most of the time. Or so he was telling himself stubbornly. But, he had no idea people were treating him like that! Harry must have been stupid if he thought that making Malfoy sleep downstairs was the worst thing people were doing to him.

Harry looked back alarmed as Malfoy sunk to the ground, still coughing loudly. He was gasping for breath as Harry rushed over to him quickly.

"Draco!" Harry cried frantically, completely missing the fact he'd just called Malfoy by his first name, "What is it?! What's wrong?!" He searched his memory for any moment where Draco could have been cursed.

Malfoy shook his head quickly at Harry before lowering his hand. His eyes were watering and he gasped for breath before pointing quickly at his throat.

"C...C...Can't" he gasped, "breathe!"

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Ooooh I know I'm evil and haven't updated in a while, but I do have a good excuse! My sister unfortunately broke her arm and so has been using the laptop to do all her homework. I therefore have not been able to write the next chapter. Anyway, she's on study leave now, so it's all good.**

**I meant what I said earlier as well. Cookies for anyone that helps me reach my 100 target...I might mention everyone that reviewed in the next chapter as well :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**Disclaimer: I really don't own a lot.**

**Special mention and cookies as promised to: tina123, LunaParvulus, Hatechild, Hyper Hippie, marlana, burgo666, kris, RoseNarc, Jester08, TearsOfTheForgotten, evildictionaryninja, neverenuff, winter.poem, stardragon12 and gossip girl. Phew!**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"Mr Malfoy, it appears the elemental spell that was cast on you has made your internal organs almost...well allergic to pollution" Madam Pomfrey explained briskly, "The spell obviously puts you in touch with nature, so naturally your body would reject the same substances that the world does. You obviously inhaled something that disagreed with your lungs."

It was early the next morning. Harry had been waiting next to Malfoy's bed with Madam Pomfrey ever since he had collapsed. Madam Pomfrey didn't usually stay next to patients all night of course...but Malfoy had stopped breathing several times throughout the night. It had shocked the hell out of Harry the first time it happened. He had been watching the steady rhythm of Malfoy's chest, naturally blaming himself for yelling at Malfoy and getting him breathless in the first place, when his chest just stopped moving altogether.

Harry had waited for five seconds before screaming for Madam Pomfrey. He hadn't known any wizard ways of medical respiration so he had used CPR. It had been necessary at the time of course, but now Harry couldn't stop remembering how soft Malfoy's lips had felt beneath his. It was completely inappropriate and just _wrong_ considering the circumstances. He'd been saving Malfoy's life for God's sake! Not to mention he didn't even like boys so it wasn't as if he was getting off from it.

Problem was Harry hadn't stopped blushing every time Malfoy had looked at him since he'd woken up.

"Do you have any idea what you could have inhaled Mr Malfoy? It would certainly be beneficial if you knew what to avoid next time." Madam Pomfrey's tone was gentle and she was blinking expectantly down at Malfoy.

He was staring blankly back up at her. "How would I know exactly what I breathe in everyday? Do you?" Harry nudged him in the ribs. He couldn't stop being..._Malfoy_ even to Madam Pomfrey.

And she was bloody scary.

Her face darkened and she frowned menacingly at him. "I'm trying to help you Mr Malfoy. If you wish I could just-"

"Smoke" Harry interrupted quickly. He really didn't fancy seeing a Madam Pomfrey vs. Draco Malfoy showdown so early in the morning. He already had a headache as it was. Madam Pomfrey stopped abruptly and looked at Harry confused. Malfoy was looking equally puzzled at him.

Suddenly Madam Pomfrey rushed over and placed the back of her hand on his forehead as if checking for a fever. Harry rolled his eyes and batted her off quickly. "I'm fine! No, really. I reckon the smoke was what set him off." Harry did think so as well. As soon as Madam Pomfrey had explained what was wrong with Malfoy he had mentally scanned any 'pollutants' that Malfoy had come into contact with in the last 2 hours or so. There wasn't anything around Grimmauld Place or Malfoy would have reacted sooner to it. Not to mention, he had started coughing when the spell had lit the rubbish on fire. There were, after all, tons of pollutants released when you burn rubbish. It all made sense when you thought about it.

"What smoke? There definitely wasn't any smoke here?" she asked, still confused. Malfoy's expression had cleared however. He did have an oddly blank look on his face though, that was slightly worrying Harry. He averted his eyes however, and turned back to Madam Pomfrey.

"At the battle a spell lit some rubbish in a bin on fire. It was really smoky and that's probably what set Malfoy off." Madam Pomfrey nodded slowly before glaring at Malfoy.

"If that's true Mr Malfoy, you should have come straight to me! I would have been able to give you those Breathe-Easy potions quicker!" She frowned at him before sighing loudly and bustling off to another patient's room. There were a few that were injured in the battle, but none of them required her full attention through the night. Unlike Malfoy.

The room was silent and Harry shifted in his seat nervously. He knew he must look a mess with his hair sticking up everywhere. He had an awful crick in his neck as well from sleeping in the chair. He hadn't had much sleep, but the sleep he had managed to get was punishing him with a painful ache down the left side of his neck. He supposed he could have asked Madam Pomfrey for something but he didn't want to be a bother when she had other patients to look after. She had helped him enough anyway.

"I'm sorry...for what I said yesterday" Harry began hesitantly, "I knew it wasn't easy for you to come to the Order. I shouldn't have yelled at you for having doubts." He looked down at his hands resolutely. He hadn't really ever been good at apologising, let alone to Malfoy of all people! He was pretty sure neither of them had ever uttered a word of sorry in the other's presence. Not surprising considering Harry used to think Malfoy was a Trainee Death Eater. What was he supposed to have said? 'I'm sorry your father is trying to kill me?' or 'I'm sorry you're following a Madman who's also been trying to kill me since I was a baby?'

The silence reigned on and Harry was too nervous to look up at Malfoy's face. He wasn't sure what he'd find there.

Malfoy's quiet voice, still a little hoarse, finally broke the tension. "No, you were right. I don't know why I hesitated. I had no excuse."

Harry looked up quickly, surprised. "No, really, I wasn't. I had no right to presume I knew anything about your situation! I certainly shouldn't have yelled at you until you collapsed..." Harry looked down at his hands again, cursing himself that he'd shown what he was really upset about.

"Potter, save your heroics for someone that wants them" Malfoy sounded equally annoyed and amused. Harry looked up, offended. He wasn't trying to be heroic; he was just stating a fact.

"I wasn't trying to be _heroic _Malfoy" he replied heatedly. He wasn't either he was just-

"Yes, you were Potter" Malfoy cut in, "You have a good reason too as well. I can't even defend against _smoke. _I'm pathetic." Malfoy glared down at his covers, as if they were mocking him as well.

Harry stared at Malfoy. "Of course you can bloody defend against smoke, you prat! Haven't you ever heard of a clearing charm? Or a Vanishing spell?" At Malfoy's stunned face, Harry grinned broadly. He decided he quite liking seeming smarter than Malfoy. It was quite a nice feeling actually.

Malfoy glared at him, finally coming out of his stupor. "Of course I've heard of Clearing Charms, Potter! Judging by your room, I'm not sure _you_ have though." He smirked at Harry.

Harry just grinned with him. He did share a room with Ron after all.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"You alright?" Harry asked, throwing himself down on a chair next to Ron.

Ron frowned at him slightly before nodding. He was obviously a little pissed still that Harry had Apparated Malfoy out instead of him. Even though Malfoy's life had been in danger and Ron's hadn't been. Well, not as much anyway. Lucius could have killed Ron, but for some reason didn't. Anyway, as Harry had explained to Ron, he was about to come back for Ron when Kingsely and Tonks had Apparated in with him. The Death Eaters had mysteriously Apparated out of Hogsmeade and left the Order bewildered.

Harry had a pretty good idea what they came to see, and thanks to Lucius, they now knew that Draco was alive.

He'd been furious with the Order members that insisted Draco come to the battle. But Harry's fury was nothing compared with Moody's. He hadn't stopped yelling at Hestia until she was reduced to tears. McGonagall had been forced to intervene and even then she had been incredibly cold towards Hestia. The incident certainly went a long way to soothe Harry's anger.

"What you doing?" Harry inquired. Ron gave him an incredulous look before pointing at the Wizard's Chess board in front of him. "Oh" Harry flushed embarrassed, before rubbing the back of his neck. Stress appeared to make it ache.

"Come on, Ron!" Harry tried again, desperate now. He really did feel guilty for leaving Ron there, but it had been necessary at the time. "You know I wouldn't have left you if it wasn't for a good reason! You're my best friend Ron! Nobody can replace you!" Ron stiffened quickly and Harry broke off worried. Had he said something?

Ron relaxed again suddenly and sighed softly. "I know. It's just...it felt like you cared more about Malfoy then me. That you were going to replace me with him. I wouldn't blame you."

Harry stared incredulously at Ron. Did everybody decide to go mad today and just not tell him? First _Malfoy_ insisting he was practically helpless and now Ron thinking Harry was going to replace him with Malfoy! "Don't be stupid! I'd never do that to you!"

Ron sighed again. "I know. Hermione told me the same thing as well; I just didn't listen to her. Even though she is annoyingly right most of the time..." He grinned at Harry, who smiled back broadly.

"So are we alright then?" Harry asked finally. Ron nodded again. Harry sighed in relief before grinning again."You want some competition then?" he asked, pointing at the board.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "From you?" he teased.

Harry threw a pillow at his head.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"King to D5" Harry ordered confidently. It was their fifth game and Harry already felt he was getting better.

Ron grinned triumphantly. "Queen to E6. Checkmate" Harry's King threw down his crown and Harry groaned. Apparently he wasn't getting any better.

"Bloody hell Potter, you're awful at that!" Malfoy scoffed from the door. Harry glanced towards the door surprised. He hadn't even heard the blonde enter the room. He patted the seat next to him as an invitation. Surprisingly, Malfoy accepted and sat down opposite Ron.

"You feel better?" Harry asked Malfoy. He nodded, before indicating the board.

"Seriously Potter, you really need some lessons. Watch and learn" He locked eyes with Ron for a few seconds, silently asking him for a game.

The atmosphere was tense and Harry held his breath subconsciously. He wasn't sure if Ron would accept, after all, Malfoy wasn't his favourite person. Granted, he hadn't been the prat he usually was. Well at least, not all of the time.

For a moment nobody did anything. Finally, Ron nodded slowly and tapped the board with his wand. The pieces immediately jumped back to their original places. Harry let out his breath slowly and relaxed against the back of his seat. That could have been immensely awkward if Ron hadn't been grown up about it. He supposed Malfoy asking Ron for a game was some sort of twisted way of apologising for his past behaviour.

Well whatever it was, it was certainly building bridges between Draco and Ron. Harry shook his head as they both stared intently at the board and began playing.

"Pay attention Potter" Malfoy reminded him, "Don't drift off." Harry smiled before nodding absently. Ron was grinning though. He probably knew that Harry had no intention whatsoever of paying attention to Ron and Draco's game.

Malfoy gave him a suspicious look before becoming absorbed into the game again.

Harry smiled at Ron before resting his head against the back of his chair. He was rather tired...

Staying up with your enemy all night tends to do that to a wizard. He yawned quietly and stretched further down into his seat. It was lovely and warm...

Before Harry's eyes slid fully shut, he couldn't help thinking that he _should_ stay awake lest Draco fry Ron when he lost against him.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Eeeeek! 109 reviews! I'm so happy! Lovely warm cookies for all who reviewed!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Disclaimer: Harry isn't mine, yet...**

**I want to thank all that reviewed as well. I've actually gone up 20 reviews in one chapter! I'm astounded that you guys like this story that much!**

**Keep up the good reviewing work and I'll keep up the updates ;-)**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry woke up with a gasp, the shock propelling him forwards into a sitting position so fast it hurt. His heart was beating faster than was probably healthy and his mouth was curiously dry. A blanket was wrapped around him tight and he struggled to remove it from around his arms. The feeling of being enclosed in the fabric was making him claustrophobic in his panicked state. As he thrashed and finally freed himself from the restraint, his hand flew out to the side and encountered something very warm and very hard. He gripped it tightly, frantically looking around.

Seeing no imminent danger...or at least not the danger that had been in his dream, he relaxed minutely. Shakily he raised one of his hands to his face and rubbed it wearily. This was really becoming annoying.

His scar was hurting again, scalding his forehead, burning the images into his brain.

Bloody hell that had been awful. Almost exactly the same vision as before...no, dream, he told himself firmly. If he believed it was a dream then he wouldn't be obligated to do something about it.

And he really didn't want to do anything about it.

Snape had been manacled...and then whipped. Harry had been seeing through Voldemort's perspective again. God, it felt like he _had _been Voldemort. He had felt his sick pleasure when Snape's skin split and bleed profusely. Voldemort had been extremely happy actually, but also furious about something.

Harry wondered if Voldemort's strong emotions broke his Occlumency shields. He squeezed his hands on his sheets tighter. If you thought about it, Voldemort was connected to him. Harry did feel Voldemort's particularly strong emotions in a detached sort of way. Theoretically, because Occlumency didn't work when one was feeling strong emotions, maybe that was why he was having visi- sorry, _dreams_ again.

He was actually feeling a little nauseous from the visi- _dream._

Oh why was he kidding himself? Of course it was a vision. He told himself resolutely however, that he wasn't obligated in any way to send help for Snape. He might have been part of the Order once, but he had ruined whatever chance he had with them when he murdered Dumbledore almost...god, 2 years ago?

He'd been fighting for too long.

The point was, whatever trouble Snape had gotten himself in, it definitely wasn't Harry's problem. Not his problem at all.

His hands were actually starting to hurt from being clenched for so long, but Harry couldn't get them to relax for the life of him. They seemed determined to stay in that state, frozen with horror and revulsion.

"Potter" a person next to him unexpectedly drawled. Whatever Harry was clenching with his left hand, also decided to move at that moment. "You're cutting off the circulation to my leg."

Harry jumped slightly, his eyes flying down towards his left hand...and the thigh he was clutching at.

"Oh...I...Jesus...I'm" Harry managed to stutter out incoherently, momentarily baffled by Malfoy's sudden appearance. Well not really sudden considering he must have been there a while actually. He wrenched his hand away and held it at arm's length from Malfoy. "God Malfoy...I...I had no idea you were there!" He said a little more clearly, suddenly engulfed in a big wave of guilt, which _just_ overwhelmed the incredible embarrassment that came with basically groping Malfoy mere inches away from...another certain part of Malfoy's anatomy.

Suddenly as thoughts struck him, worry overcame both of the previous emotions. He calculated the chance that Malfoy could have walked into the room _and_ managed to sit down next to Harry all in the time it took Harry to sit up and fight with his blanket. It was basically impossible, plus Harry would have noticed if Malfoy walked into the room because the door was opposite where Harry had been sleeping.

This, unfortunately, meant that Malfoy had been there when Harry had been dreaming.

If Malfoy _had_ been there since Harry had woken up, he probably knew that Harry had a nightmare. And he'd probably have figured out that it was a bad one considering how sickly Harry knew he looked right now.

Not to mention who _didn't_ know that Harry had visions of Voldemort these days? Malfoy was bound to smell a rat...and then Harry would have to lie to him. He didn't want to do that anymore than he wanted to lie to Ron and Hermione. It oddly felt like betraying a friend...even though Malfoy was more of an ally really. They weren't close enough to be considered friends yet, Harry thought, but they definitely weren't enemies anymore.

Too much had happened for that.

"Clearly" Malfoy replied, an amused expression on his face. He was massaging his thigh slightly, the motion making Harry blush embarrassed; something that made Malfoy smirk widely at him.

Harry expressively told the memory of Draco's thigh underneath his hand, to piss off.

Malfoy's face suddenly got very serious and he peered into Harry's face. "What was that about before, by the way? It looked like you were having a very scary...or maybe very real, nightmare." His tone was quiet but also hard. His silver eyes bore into Harry's.

Harry ducked his head slowly. So Malfoy did know about his visions. Not surprising considering he did use to be one of the Death Eaters. It must be a great laugh amongst the Death Eaters that the Great Harry Potter received headaches and visions from the Dark Lord.

"Nothing, nothing" he denied quickly, "Just a nightmare" He didn't look Malfoy in the eye, but instead opted to look at his shoulder and part of his neck. He was trying to be purposefully rude, he just wasn't sure he could keep it together right now if he looked Malfoy in the face. The vision had really shaken him up. Partly because of their sudden reappearance, but mostly because of the gruesome acts they depicted... Voldemort really didn't like Snape at the moment for some reason.

Again, not Harry's problem. If Malfoy heard that his favourite mentor was being tortured by Voldemort, he would no doubt want the Order to help him. Harry predicted the Order wouldn't receive that idea well. Hell, they barely tolerated Malfoy. And he wasn't the one who actually murdered Dumbledore.

Harry had only flicked his eyes up to Malfoy's for a second before a pressure seized his mind. He grasped his head tightly between his hands, but for some reason couldn't move his eyes away from Malfoy's gaze. Silver eyes were staring unseeingly into Harry's own, and Harry finally realised what was happening.

Almost automatically, he erected strong Occlumency shields around his memories, especially the memories of his last two visions. He didn't manage them quickly enough however, and could feel the memory of the vision drifting to the front of his mind. He used his last alternative, pulling up random memories and pushing them to the front of his mind. They were to be strong memories; memories that contained strong emotions. Against his will, he pushed a memory of Dudley hitting him when he was small to the front of his mind. Then, the memory of Hagrid coming to collect him when he was 11, telling Harry he was a wizard. This was only a distraction technique, which aimed to slow the Legilimens down.

He continued to push memories, now left with only the painful ones like Sirius dying, to the front of his mind. Bit by bit, he spread his hand out in front of him before thinking loudly _Expelliarmus!_ The wandless and wordless spell didn't do what Harry wanted, of course. He'd had no training in wandless spells and only a year in wordless. It did however, blast Malfoy off the couch, breaking the eye contact he had with Harry.

Harry gasped as his mind separated harshly from Malfoy's. His head hurt and there was a curious pain in the middle of his chest, but he ignored those. He shot to his feet, before backing away from Malfoy quickly. He drew his wand from his pocket- he could have done with that earlier- and levelled it at Malfoy's chest. He was lying flat on his back, stunned. Harry wasn't going to help him though. He had performed Legilimency _against_ Harry's will.

"What the hell was that for?" Harry snarled, his wand hand shaking furiously.

Malfoy was starting to get up now, propping himself up on his arms. He was looking a little dazed but also apprehensively at Harry. "I just-"

"You just what?! Wanted to look around my head?!" Harry interrupted loudly. He was shaking with fury. He couldn't believe that Malfoy would do that to him! "Like what you found?" His voice was 

now deathly quiet. Malfoy had seen memories he wouldn't have wanted even Ron and Hermione to see, let alone _him. _Harry was physically repulsed by what he did. The intrusive feeling of Malfoy pushing into his mind was horrible...and it brought up a lot of memories from Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts.

Snape had done the exact same thing to Harry over and over again. Harry thought he would be able to avoid that now that he could do Occlumency. Apparently he'd been wrong. He honestly didn't know what shocked him the most; the fact that Malfoy could do Legilimency...or that he'd used it on Harry without consent.

"No! It wasn't like that!" Malfoy blurted out suddenly, shooting to his feet. Harry quickly directed his wand at Malfoy again, but he wasn't quite ready to cast any hexes yet. Malfoy put up his hands calmingly but carried on speaking nonetheless. "I didn't know you knew how to do that! Anybody else wouldn't have even realised I was in their head! I just..." he trailed off, looking a little lost.

"You just, what?" Harry prompted, impatiently. He hoped to God that Malfoy hadn't seen any of the visions he'd been having. Malfoy seeing his childhood memories had been bad enough.

Malfoy shifted his feet, obviously feeling uncomfortable. "I wanted to know if you were lying to me. I don't like the fact that you are" he answered quietly. "I didn't think that you were as good at Occlumency as you are. I'm sorry if I hurt you." Malfoy honestly sounded apologetic.

Hesitantly, Harry lowered his wand slowly. He didn't trust Malfoy not to look in his mind again. Now that he knew Harry was lying- and it was obvious considering Harry was so worried he'd used _wandless_ magic to expel Malfoy from his mind- he wouldn't stop trying to find out, what it was.

"Just don't do that again" Harry ordered roughly. He didn't care if Malfoy was doing it because he was worried or the fact that it wasn't supposed to hurt Harry. It did and Harry was going to avoid that ever happening again. He rubbed his head wearily. His head had hurt from the vision and Malfoy's little Legilimency trick had tripled his headache to mammoth proportions.

Malfoy looked up at him seriously. He nodded slowly before giving a small smirk. "I won't, but don't expect me to give up trying to figure out what you're lying to me about." He walked over to Harry, giving him a suspicious look.

Harry, unable to control his actions, flinched away from Malfoy as he came closer. Seeing Malfoy's hurt and stricken expression, he quickly made up an excuse to leave the room and hurried out. He didn't want to be near Malfoy right now. He wasn't scared of him or something stupid like that...he was just apprehensive. Not that he was going to leave Malfoy friendless in the Order headquarters. God no, the Order members like Hestia would tear him apart with Harry as protection. No, he just needed some space.

Yes, that was the word; apprehensive.

As Harry was changing into his pyjamas, he froze suddenly. He didn't remember putting covers on himself...and why was Malfoy sitting next to him when he was sleeping anyway?

How puzzling.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Chapter eleven for you folks! Hoped you liked. I have also decided that I am going to add another chapter to Curiosity soon so watch this space.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Well, the story is.**

**I have to say I was feeling very dramatic when I was writing this chapter. You'll see shortly what I mean...**

**Enjoy!**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry hopped on one leg as he pulled up his holey sock. They had, of course, been Uncle Vernon's old ones, thus they hardly resembled socks anymore. The mustard yellow material had faded to an almost beige colour and any elasticity the pair once had was long gone.

He struggled to pull them up, his toes unfortunately getting in the way. Anybody would have thought Uncle Vernon was a ballet dancer from the number of holes located around the toes. Harry tugged the sock off before attempting again. He wrestled furiously with it before collapsing on his bed in relief.

He hadn't had a lot of time to go shopping recently. Well, actually he hadn't had time ever. Diagon Alley wasn't as safe as it had been before. Aurors set up a patrol there, but if Voldemort caught on to the fact that Harry was planning to go to Diagon Alley there would be chaos. Innocent people would be killed just because Harry couldn't put up with a few holey socks.

Well... a few holey everything actually.

But it didn't matter; he had survived through the whole of Hogwarts with Dudley and Uncle Vernon's old wardrobe. He could do it until the war was over. Even if it meant incinerating a few socks along the way.

Harry wriggled his toes tiredly, his toe sticking out of one of the holes again. He sighed.

"Merlin, Potter" Malfoy drawled from the door, "You really need new clothes."

Harry stiffened, feeling oddly vulnerable lying down on his bed. He averted his eyes quickly from Malfoy's direction and fingered his wand hesitantly. He could do Occlumency fine without it...just not apparently against Malfoy. He was a little disturbed about why it had hurt as well. When Snape had tried to teach him it had been uncomfortable certainly, but it hadn't sent shards of pain into Harry's skull like when Malfoy had tried to do it.

It might have been because Malfoy wasn't as good of a Legilimens as Snape. Something Harry would loathe to admit anyway, but Malfoy had seemed shocked when Harry felt Malfoy using Legilimency on him. Part of Harry wanted to protest that Malfoy was usually arrogant about his abilities anyway and other people could probably feel him using Legilimency on him. The other part of Harry- the part he was ignoring completely- was shouting the Harry was being completely oblivious.

Maybe he was. He was happy with that.

Harry slowly sat up against the headboard of his bed and pulled his knees up to his chest. He gave a vague nod towards Malfoy's direction but refused to pull his eyes away from the piece of wall in front of him. It was quite interesting actually. Ron had decorated it with his usual Chudley Cannons posters, but there was also a poster of the Holyhead Harpies. Harry hadn't known Ron liked them...but then maybe Ron liked the Holyhead Harpies because he was a teenage boy.

"Are you just going to ignore me forever then?" Malfoy suddenly asked roughly from the doorway. Harry was startled into looking at him, but quickly averted his eyes afterwards.

"I'm not ignoring you" he lied steadily, "I was just wondering how long Ron had liked the Holyhead Harpies." He tapped his fingers nervously on his legs, whilst still studying the poster. The girl on the right was quite pretty. Oddly, she didn't do anything for Harry, but he could see how other guys could find her attractive. She had brilliant red hair. Not flaming orange like Ron's, more like a chestnut/red mix. She had a pretty face as well. Lovely green eyes, not unlike Harry's actually, but with a tad more blue in. Yes, Harry decided, she was pretty.

"Of course you are," came the short retort, "you won't even look at me." Malfoy appeared suddenly in front of Harry and gazed steadfastly into his eyes. His piercing silver eyes burned into Harry's and he jerked backwards in surprise. However, Harry didn't feel Malfoy try to use Legilimency on him and he relaxed minutely. "See" Malfoy's voice was hard...and slightly hurt. "I apologised. I didn't know it would hurt you."

Rage filled Harry. Anger he should have felt last night, except he didn't. Hurt overpowered anger last night. The hurt was still there now; the betrayal of trust in Malfoy, but it subsided to leave room for fury.

A lot of fury.

"You think apologising is just going to make everything better? You saw memories I didn't want you to see. Memories you had no right looking at." Harry's voice was controlled, but barely. He clenched his fists tightly and looked Malfoy right in the eye. "Saying it wasn't meant to hurt, didn't stop it hurting did it. I trusted you and you fucked me over!" Harry was shouting now. He had trusted Malfoy as well. Somewhere along the line they had developed an odd sort of friendship. Hell, Malfoy had even been worried when Harry had had a nightmare!

In the past he would have laughed. Or made some insult about Harry wanting his dead mother to comfort him.

But, he had tried to look inside Harry's head! Harry wasn't going to forgive him any time soon for that. He was breathing heavily, glaring coolly at Malfoy.

"I know apologising won't rewind time and make everything better. It was a stupid decision on my part. If I could go back in time and NOT do it, I would" Malfoy honestly sounded regretful. Well...as regretful as Malfoy could sound whilst scowling at Harry. The facial expression sort of cancelled out the words. "But could you at least _try_ to forgive me! I don't say sorry often so you should be grateful I'm saying it to you!"

Harry scoffed loudly. "What a fucking miracle! Draco Malfoy is _apologising_ to someone!" He gave Malfoy a nasty smirk. "Get over yourself Malfoy. People with _hearts_ apologise all the time." He stood up from his bed and folded his arms. Harry knew he looked defensive, but he honestly wanted to hurt Malfoy with his words. Anything to stop him from mentioning what he saw in Harry's head because he _knew_ that Malfoy would figure out that's what he was most upset about.

Malfoy thought Harry had been a spoiled and pampered child. Praised for being the Saviour of the Wizarding World and had fame thrusted upon him. Malfoy had thought Harry had enjoyed people staring at him, separating him from normal people.

Harry desperately wished he felt more triumphant over the fact Malfoy had been proven wrong. But no, all he felt was ashamed and angry. He didn't know why he was ashamed of the memories Malfoy had seen. It certainly wasn't Harry's fault that the Dursleys had been rubbish relatives, that they abused Harry when he was younger. And it hadn't been Harry's fault that Sirius had di-

Guilt festered at the bottom of Harry's heart and he quickly pushed that thought away and replaced it with anger. Anger was easier to deal with...and inflict upon people.

"Fuck off, Potter!" Malfoy yelled, his body language reflecting his hurt and anger...or maybe Harry had just sensed that? In fact, if Harry had sensed it, that probably meant Malfoy was _really_ angry, which meant Harry should expect some tropic conditions soon. Harry knew he should stop antagonising Malfoy in case something bad did happen, but he couldn't stop. His hurt and embarrassment was growing to mammoth proportions.

"Wow Malfoy. Where has all your wit gone? 'Fuck off Potter' isn't really your style." Harry was sneering at Malfoy now, his face contorted into a mocking expression. "Maybe because you can't imitate your father anymore, your vocabulary is slipping."

Harry knew he shouldn't have said it. He should have stopped at the argument last night. But he couldn't. He was too furious for that.

Malfoy looked stricken for a second before baring his teeth at Harry. "Don't mock me because I actually have a father, Potter. It's pathetic."

The windows behind Harry started shaking in their frames.

"Don't you dare fucking talk about my parents!" Harry bellowed. He could feel his magic spiralling out of control, licking like flames against different objects. It spread out around him, uncontrolled. He wanted to rein it in, but at the same time he wanted to hurt Malfoy. Make him pay for mocking Harry's lack of father figures like James...and Sirius.

Sirius, whom Malfoy had seen die. Sirius, whom Malfoy had mocked Harry about on the train. Malfoy had no right to have seen Sirius die and it was entirely Harry's fault that he had. Malfoy probably still thought Sirius was guilty... and was probably laughing at Harry for loving him.

"My father was a thousand times the wizard _your_ father was! You have no right to talk about him at all! You...you...fucking Death Eater!" Acid words shot out of Harry's mouth, words he'd definitely regret later. But not right now. No, he still wanted to hurt Malfoy. Take payment for the hurt Malfoy had inflicted upon him, all of the hurt.

Random objects were levitating and began shooting towards Malfoy. They flew at him, just missing him by several centimetres. Quills and their sharp ends headed towards Malfoy like daggers.

Daggers like Malfoy's words.

Malfoy froze at Harry's words. His face went blank, his eyes unperturbed. He steadily raised a hand and the objects flying at him stopped in mid air, blocked by a wind shield. "I'm a Death Eater am I?" He asked quietly, his face mysteriously blank.

"Yes!" Harry bellowed at him, "You're despicable and evil! You shouldn't have seen inside my head! Seen Sirius-" Harry cut himself off before letting out a scream of frustration.

The objects began pushing Malfoy back by just hitting his wind shield. Harry was starting to get a little scared by his power. He wasn't even holding his wand! How the hell was he managing this?

Malfoy raised his other hand and he stopped moving backwards. "Is that what you think, _Harry_?" He seemed to spit out Harry's name like an insult. "You think I'm evil? I guess I'd better start living up to my reputation then!" He made a shoving motion with his hands and the halted objects zoomed back towards Harry.

Instinctively, Harry raised his own arms and yelled "Protego!"

The objects hit what sounded like a steel wall and rebounded in all directions, some even imbedding in the walls. Harry lowered his arms quickly, his fists now clenched again. Fucking Malfoy and his fucking powers! Thinking it made him superior over other people!

"Not enough for you, Harry?" Malfoy's cold voice questioned.

Wind whipped around Harry, shattering several windows and rattling the door in its frame. It swept towards Harry violently. He could hear footsteps sprinting up the stairs but he flicked his hand at it quickly, thinking 'Colloportus'. The door locked with the customary squelching noise. Fists hammered at the door, but apparently they were unable to unlock it. He didn't want them to unlock it. This was between him and Malfoy.

Harry didn't care anymore. All rational thought had left him, his mind blank and his emotions were locked in a dark corner of his mind. He didn't feel like Harry. He felt different, stronger. His scar burned uncomfortably but he brushed off the pain.

The wind was getting stronger, gathering papers and loose objects in it. It focussed suddenly on Harry and the memory of being hit with it last time flickered briefly in his mind before he chucked it to the back of his consciousness with the rest of Harry and his emotions. He almost wanted to laugh as he made a cutting motion with his hand at it. The wind died down, almost as if it had been sawed in half. Malfoy's eyes widened minutely before they became cold again. Malfoy was obviously reluctant to use fire on him. Scared he would hurt him.

Harry couldn't care less though. Malfoy could use fire on him if he wanted to. Harry had his new wandless power and Malfoy couldn't touch him.

He raised a finger and yelled "Sectumsempra!" He wanted to hurt Malfoy. His heart was cold and hard and it didn't protest at all as Harry cast that spell. The spell swiftly shot at Malfoy but suddenly a block of wood rose from the table and absorbed the spell.

Briefly, somewhere deep inside Harry was astonished at seeing Malfoy finally use earth, the rest was still though and growled at his spell being intercepted. He raised his hand again but Malfoy threw the block of wood at him. Harry dodged out of the way, taken by surprise and sucked in a breath as the wood scraped against his cheek. Blood dripped down his face but Harry ignored it.

He glared up at Malfoy before standing again.

Malfoy beat him to it though. "I know why you're really upset, Potter. You're upset that I saw your precious memories, glimpses of you being mistreated, flashes of people close to you dying. And you were scared." Harry would have liked to think he was sneering. But he wasn't.

A small, dormant part of Harry woke up at this. He stood up again slowly, his face draining of colour suddenly. The crazy power began ebbing away to nothing. Horror flooded him as he realised what he had done...what he could have done. He squeezed his eyes shut, but he could still hear Malfoy.

"You were worried what I was going to do with that knowledge" he continued lowly, "What did you think I was going to do, Harry?" It appeared Malfoy had given up as well. His face was blank again; all emotion except for the hurt shining in his eyes had disappeared.

Harry shook his head weakly. The banging on the door increased in loudness. He could also hear Hermione screaming at him from outside the door.

"I'm obviously not meant to be here, Potter" Malfoy concluded, "A Death Eater in the Order headquarters? Now that's just plain stupid." His tone was cold and self-mocking.

Harry opened his eyes quickly, just catching Malfoy jumping out of the second story window before landing on his feet, a mysterious current lifting him past the ward boundaries. Harry rushed to the broken window in time to see Malfoy disapparate.

The door burst open and Harry sunk to the floor, surrounded by glass from the windows.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**People were a little worried that I hadn't made Harry annoyed enough in the previous chapter...but they didn't realise I was writing this chapter now did they? **

**So readers your questions shall be answered in due course. Why on earth can Harry suddenly do wandless magic like that? Is Harry becoming evil? And...**

**Where the hell has Malfoy gone now??**

**Review ;-)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**I'm stunned! This story has actually gotten 200 hundred reviews and over 11,000 hits! My faithful reviewers made me cry!**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

_Harry._

His head was swimming. His thoughts were jumbled and mostly disconnected from his brain. He couldn't believe that just happened. He didn't want to. Every time he thought about it, something in his chest growled in disgust and anger. No, not anger: Fury. Harry couldn't believe he'd let himself go like that.

He'd done it in Dumbledore's office as well, a long time ago. Back when he was a child. Back when he could get away with doing stupid things. Get away with making stupid decisions. He was too old now, almost 19. He shouldn't have let himself get worked up like that.

_Harry!_

Dumbledore would have been disappointed in him. So would Sirius. Not to mention Harry's father. He was in the middle of the war. He was the Chosen One, he thought bitterly. And he'd just acted like recalcitrant child and had a temper tantrum.

Harry didn't want to think about the power behind his so called 'Temper Tantrum'. It had been an idiotic use of his power and it had left him drained. Or maybe that was just the space in his chest that made him feel empty. A gaping hole that had widened as Harry watched Malfoy apparate.

_Mate?!_

He'd called Malfoy a Death Eater. Harry didn't even blame Malfoy for leaving. His words must have hurt like a shard of glass driven into Malfoy's heart. He must hate Harry now, especially after Harry had tried to kill him as well. Well that was a bit extreme in reality. Harry hadn't tried to kill Malfoy, but he could have.

He was once again different. Harry was pretty sure nobody else he knew could suddenly do wandless magic. Without any training, it should certainly be impossible. But he was forgetting he was Harry Potter. He could do lots of weird things others couldn't; talk to snakes...cast a corporal Patronus at the age of 13. It was just another thing that set him apart from normal people.

_Mr. Potter!_

And he'd used that power to hurt Malfoy. Harry thought he could have become quite good friends with Malfoy is they had worked on it. Sure the prat was annoying sometimes and he did have a superior attitude that could be infuriating sometimes, but he was also brave. And smart.

And alone.

Malfoy was hated by most of the Order AND by the Death Eaters. He'd be a sitting target for both sides. Sure, the Order wouldn't attack Malfoy without orders from Kingsley or McGonagall, but there 

were other supporters of the Order that hated the Malfoys. They'd pick him off in seconds. He'd have nowhere to go and it was entirely Harry's fault he had left.

Oh shit. Voldemort could have caught up with Malfoy by now.

Harry's eyes snapped open.

Instantly the faces of Ron, Hermione, McGonagall and Mrs Weasley came into view. They were crowded round him, their faces taut with worry and concern. He blinked blankly at them for a few seconds before glancing at the door.

Obviously his Colloportus Charm had failed...or maybe Hermione had been just been _really_ worried. The previously locked door was hanging on only one of its hinges and it currently sported quite a few singed edges.

"Harry?! For Merlin's sake, what happened?!" Harry snapped back to face Hermione at her exasperated tone of voice.

"Where the hell has Malfoy gone?" Ron piped up behind her, his voice sounding an odd mix of hope and worry.

Harry shook his head at them before standing up quickly. The glass he had been sitting on unfortunately cut one of his palms, but Harry didn't feel it. He didn't feel much of anything at the moment. The others crowding around him backed up as he stood determined, albeit a little unsteadily.

"We have to find Malfoy" he stated, completely ignoring the previous questions asked. He felt too ashamed to admit that he had caused most of the damage. "Voldemort could have gotten him by now."

Hermione and the others looked alarmed at this. Hermione shook her head quickly before grasping Harry's hand hastily. "What are you on about, Harry? Where has Malfoy gone and what does this have to do with Voldemort?" Her hand was uncomfortably tight on Harry's. Pain lanced through it where she unknowingly touched the fresh cut on his hand. He didn't wince though. He deserved the pain.

"We got into an argument" he replied, in way of an explanation. Not a very good one, but it would have to do for now. He was too busy trying to think of places Malfoy would go. Hogwarts? No, definitely not. He would probably still be uncomfortable there after sixth year. Hogsmeade...Diagon Alley? No, he wouldn't risk going there either.

Harry honestly didn't know that many Wizarding places that Malfoy would feel safe enough to go to. He growled softly to himself before running a hand through his hair. Obviously not the one Hermione currently had a death grip. She didn't look as if she was going to let go anytime soon either.

"I think we all gathered that Harry! But, look at your room! What on earth were you saying to Malfoy to make him this angry?" she huffed angrily, her eyes concerned and wide.

Oh. She and the others, Harry realised, obviously thought that Malfoy had done all this damage. They probably had no idea that Harry was capable of doing this much damage, even with his temperamental magic. Not surprising considering Harry himself had been somewhat amazed- and horrified- to find out he could do this level of destruction.

"I can't tell you..." Harry couldn't either. Not right now, at least. His head felt incredibly shaky and he just couldn't face Ron and Hermione's expressions of horror as he told them the truth: that _he_ had done most of the damage. The objects imbedded in the walls were his fault, as well as the windows. The most Malfoy had done was make a few objects fly around...and that was only after Harry had done it to him first.

What Harry couldn't understand was why he had gotten so angry. He wasn't trying to excuse his behaviour; he just wanted to make sure it never, ever happened again.

"Harry...what do you mean you can't tell us?" Hermione honestly sounded hurt now. Harry couldn't blame her either. He would be upset if one of them were keeping secrets from him. He just shook his head however.

"Just trust me, Hermione" he answered wearily. "Now, we need to find Draco!" He glanced at McGonagall and Mrs Weasley, who were giving him equally nervous looks.

"Harry...it's not that we don't want to go looking for...Draco right now. It's just we have bigger problems right now." McGonagall answered, looking a little perturbed at Harry's use of Draco's first name. Not that Harry could blame her; he was surprised himself. He vaguely wondered when Malfoy had become Draco.

"What bigger problems?" he asked sharply. Draco could be in the Death Eater's grasp by now! Who knew what inexplicable evils they were subjecting him to?

"Mundungus has gone missing" she answered bluntly.

Harry looked at her confused. Mundungus Fletcher was more important than Draco Malfoy who, might Harry add, has super powers?

"He was supplying us with information until about a week ago. He informed us about the raids, everything. He said he had heard it from a very reliable source. We were unconvinced at first but then when he was correct about the first raid- that would be the Jackson raid if I remember correctly- we decided to trust him" McGonagall paused looking worried, "He disappeared about a week ago. We all assumed he'd gone to carry out some more illicit activities and so, we didn't worry about him. But nobody has heard from him since, which is incredibly worrying for Mundungus."

She gazed at Harry sympathetically. "We will of course send people on the case as soon as possible, but if Mr Malfoy left of his own accord there really isn't a lot we can do." She patted him weakly on the arm, obviously unsure of what else to say to him, which was incredibly odd for McGonagall.

Harry's face went blank. He had just realised he was being really stupid. He was thinking too deeply into this. So what if Malfoy was a wizard? Where did all children go when they wanted to feel safe?

"I'm sure he'll come back soon anyway, Harry" Hermione tried to console him, whilst looking puzzled at his concern.

"Yeah...soon" Harry replied, the cogs in his brain turning rapidly. If his idea was right...

He'd have to check subtly first though. "So where would Mundungus be then? You obviously think that Voldemort has him. Malfoy Manor?" His tone was mild and he ignored the suspicious looks Hermione was shooting in his direction.

"No, no." McGonagall answered, relieved that Harry wasn't all worked up about Malfoy anymore. Or so she thought. "The Ministry confiscated that property when Lucius Malfoy was imprisoned in your Fifth year. It was never returned to him, obviously because he escaped from Azkaban. The Order has also kept tabs on it though, so we are quite positive the Death Eaters haven't infiltrated it." She nodded concisely, before resting a hand on Molly's arm. Mrs Weasley was actually looking rather sharply at Harry, but he refused to let any guilt cross his face. He knew they wouldn't let him go.

"We think that he is most likely to be in Riddle Manor or another building Voldemort is using. It obviously isn't a good idea if we look there though, so we have currently set up a large search force." She carried on. "We hope to check all bases in case we are wrong." Apparently exhausting herself enough, first with the Mundungus problem and now with Malfoy disappearing, she retired downstairs with Molly. Not before giving Harry a disappointed look though. "You might have tried to get along a little better with Mr Malfoy, Harry" she reprimanded.

Harry's heart didn't even protest at this as McGonagall and Mrs Weasley left their room, Molly casting apprehensive looks at Harry before she left.

Harry waited until their footsteps had echoed down the steps before waving his wand around the room. Hermione joined him a second later and they quickly cleaned up the room. Finishing the task fairly quickly thanks to Hermione's help, Harry could only wait for Hermione's interrogation.

Not long though.

"Alright Harry, what really went on here?" she started harshly, "What aren't you telling us? What did you and Malfoy argue about? And...What are you planning because I'm pretty sure me and Ron are going to end up tagging along?" Her eyes were determined and she had her hands on her hips.

Harry's mouth fell open a little before he smiled weakly at her. She always had known him too well for his liking. He never could fool Hermione. But, seeing as Ron was grinning as well, he had obviously figured out things as well.

He wasn't sure whether to be pleased that he had two amazing friends... or exasperated that they were now able to ruin his carefully made up plans.

And they would ruin them once they knew what Harry was planning to do, because it was very, very dangerous. Definitely on Harry's list of top ten hazardous activities he had ever planned. It probably wasn't going to be as bad as the Triwizard Tournament fiasco...but unquestionably perilous. He was going to do this with or without them though. It was on his conscience, his fault that Malfoy had run away.

He smirked slightly at them before grasping his wand tightly. "First thing we're going to need to do is break into Kingsley's room..."

He grinned wickedly at their twin gasps.

McGonagall did admit the Order had been keeping tabs on Malfoy Manor...where else would a map of it's location be, but in Kingsley's room?

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Almost 100 alerts on this story...if only all those people reviewed :P**

**I don't do subtly. I might as well tell you the next chapter should be really eye opening with a definite twist in it...**

**Ooops.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Disclaimer: Don't own etc...**

**I felt evil leaving everyone at that cliff hanger, so I thought I'd update quickly.**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"Hermione, hurry up!" Ron hissed from the stairway. Harry rolled his eyes. That had to have been the fifth time in the last ten seconds.

"Shut up Ron, unless you want to have a go at disabling the wards?!" Hermione retorted.

There was silence from the stairs.

"Didn't think so" she muttered under her breath, before blowing a piece of loose hair away from her face. "Right Harry, I think I'm going to need your help with this, okay?"

Harry, who had been rolling his eyes at Ron and Hermione's antics, quickly nodded and joined her at the door. "What do you need me to do?"

Hermione moved over to give him room next to her. "These wards are really complicated. I think your right about Kingsley keeping important documents in here; I mean why else would he have such a complicated warding system if there was nothing of value in his room?" Harry nodded in agreement; pleased his deductions had been right.

"I'm going to disable the first layer of wards. At the same time, I'm going to need you to disable the second layer. Another reason I think the documents are in here: Kingsley obviously had help putting these wards up. Moody probably" she continued. She shook out her weary wrist before aiming her wand at the door. "You do remember how to disable wards right, Harry?" she asked worriedly.

Harry rolled his eyes at her. "Yes Hermione. I did listen at Hogwarts" he replied patiently. _Sometimes,_ he added silently. He copied her movement and raised his wand at the wood in front of him.

"Ready?" she asked, her voice trembling a little. She hadn't liked the idea of having to break into Kingsley's room, but she knew finding Malfoy was important. Atleast, it was to Harry and that was enough for Hermione. Harry nodded determinedly, his hand gripping the wand tighter. He knew he had done wandless magic before...but that had oddly disappeared the second Harry had calmed down. Besides, chucking objects around the room didn't quite have the finesse Harry needed to disable wards. It didn't matter how powerful the magic had been before.

"Okay, NOW!" she ordered. Harry immediately cast the spell to reveal wards. They sprung up in front of his eyes. Wow, Hermione had been right. They were complicated. Two different colours of ward lines crisscrossed everywhere across the door. Setting his mind on the task, Harry pushed his mind and focussed it on the layer of wards that was put slightly deeper that the other one. Subtly, he pushed tendrils of his own magic down the ward lines. He watched the pulsing slightly before disappearing.

Hm, he obviously needed a higher dose of magic then. He took a deep breath before send a massive burst of energy into the ward. It immediately disintegrated, but that was only one ward line down. Only another fifty or so ward lines to go.

About ten minutes later, Hermione and Harry were slumped exhaustedly against the wall...and Ron was hissing for them to hurry up again.

"Ron, _shut up!_" Harry hissed tiredly back, "We're going as fast as we can! You can always do this and I'll be the lookout if you want!"

"No chance" Ron snorted quietly, "He's your boyfriend!"

Harry looked stunned in Ron's general direction. His face felt like a furnace. "Don't be stupid, Ron. He's just a friend, not to mention a good asset to the Order" he retorted sharply.

"Sure Harry. Don't sound so offended though. Homosexuality isn't uncommon in the Wizarding world" Ron replied loftily, blatantly sounding pleased he'd gotten under Harry's skin. He was obviously punishing Harry for dragging him into the whole break-into-Kingsley's-Room-mess, by embarrassing Harry.

Harry leant there for a few minutes, not even bothering to give Ron a reply. Was homosexuality uncommon in the Wizarding world? He'd never seen a gay person the entire time he had been in the Wizarding world. But then again, the entire time he had spent in the Wizarding world, he had had a Psychopathic killer after him so noticing small details like a person's sexual preference hadn't been his top priority.

God, he wasn't even sure what _his _sexual preference was.

Wait, where the hell had that thought come from? Of course he was straight. He had liked Ginny and Cho. Why would he think he liked boys all of a sudden?

He could tell this was going to hurt his brain.

Grimly _not_ thinking about that issue, he pushed himself away from the wall, closing his eyes as exhaustion heaped on top of him. He shook his head quickly, however, forcing himself to move. "Come on, Hermione. We should get this done fast." He held a hand out to her and pulled her upright again. She swayed a little, but kept on her feet. Harry smiled proudly at her, before facing the now open door.

He walked in quickly, checking warily for any booby traps Kingsley might have been thoughtful enough to leave. The coast was clear however, and Harry beckoned for Hermione to follow him. "Spread out" he whispered, not altogether certain _why_ he was whispering but whispering anyway, "We'll find it faster if we look in different areas." Hermione nodded amusedly at him, obviously thinking there was no need to whisper seeing as Ron would tell them if someone was coming.

Harry flushed a little embarrassed, but nodded back at her. He headed left, checking drawers, shelves, even Kingsley's wardrobe- which contained quite a few questionable robes if Harry was truly honest. Not that his wardrobe was in a better state.

He didn't find anything in the wardrobe, so he moved on to Kingsley's side table. It held a few papers, but as Harry turned them over they appeared to be useless.

A small gasp from Hermione across the room made him turn around quickly. "Did you find something?" he asked urgently.

She was staring at a blank piece of wall, her wand making complicated looking gestures. "I-I think so" she replied excitedly. "There's an illusion on this wall. I thought there was something odd looking about it, so I tested it for glamours and wards. I was right!" Her voice sounded pleased and proud at the same time. Harry didn't blame her though. He never would have noticed that piece of wall without her help.

He hurried over, hastily winding around pieces of furniture before he reached her. "Can you dispel it?" he asked quickly, desperately hoping she could. If Kingsley had taken the time to hide something behind an illusion, it must be important. Hermione nodded decisively before changing her wand movements rapidly. She muttered hastily under her breath, before sighing in relief.

The wall appeared to melt under Harry's gaze, half of it slipping away to reveal a safe in the wall. Harry stared excitedly at it and reached a hand out to pull the handle.

Nothing happened.

"For God's sake, Harry. It's locked with a combination. Not surprising considering it's a _safe_" Hermione reprimanded sarcastically. "What did you expect to happen: It to open of its own accord?"

Harry tugged again angrily. They had come all of this way and for nothing! There was no way they would be able to guess Kingsley's combination! Harry hadn't a clue where to start. Oh Merlin, they were going to be too late. Malfoy was going to get into trouble...and it was all Harry's fault. He pulled the safe handle again desperately. A familiar feeling was rising through him...

And the safe door popped open.

Harry stared in surprise at the safe door. Dread flooded him. His wandless magic had done that. He glanced quickly at Hermione, only to find her looking at him with a stunned expression on her face.

"It must not have been locked" he lied, laughing nervously. The stunned expression left her face, but she was looking at him speculatively now. She didn't say anything to him though- Harry breathed a sigh of relief- and just pulled out a wad of documents from the safe. She handed roughly half to Harry, before pouring over the ones in her hands.

Harry gave her one last worried look before gazing at the papers in front of him. He flipped through the first couple. Boring, expenditure list for the Order, even more boring, Kingsley's Auror certificate, he commented to himself as he flipped through the documents. Eurgh, Dumbledore's will...

Wait, what?

Hastily, Harry scrabbled to bring the piece of paper in front of his face. Dumbledore had made a will! Oh God, he had left things to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Not to mention other Order members, including Kingsley. Tears burned the corners of Harry's eyes and he blinked them away quickly. He wasn't going to cry over a silly document. He scanned down the rest of the document. Mostly, it was objects, money to the Order, that sort of thing. Oh wait, he had left Fawkes to someone.

Harry's blood ran cold.

He'd left it to Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy.

What the hell was going on here?! Why was Kingsley hiding this? Why was Malfoy on Dumbledore's will? He had been trying to let Death Eaters into the school!

Harry quickly brought his eyes up to the date the Will had been altered and signed. He stared at it uncomprehending what it was telling him. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then opened them again. The date was still the same.

Dumbledore had made this will, _just before_ he had been killed by Snape on the Astronomy Tower. He had made a _will._ The evidence was pointing to one conclusion: A conclusion Harry refused to believe. Dumbledore would have had to have known about his death to have made a will beforehand. He would have had to know Snape was going to kill him.

And he had left Malfoy something as well. Why would he do that? Why was he leaving Fawkes to Malfoy?

"Harry?" Hermione's timid voice broke his deep thoughts. He looked up at her quickly, hiding Dumbledore's will beneath the pile of documents he was holding. He didn't know why he didn't want her to see.

"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked concerned. "You look awfully pale..." Harry shook his head dismissively at her.

"I'm fine" he reassured her mechanically. He looked down unseeingly at the documents again.

"Harry?" Hermione interrupted again, a few seconds later. "I think I might have something."

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry's grip on his wand tightened as he glanced quickly at Ron and Hermione. Their faces were a little pale and scared. Harry felt awful for having to ask them to do this. He didn't want to, but he knew better than to go charging into a known Death Eater's house without any backup whatsoever.

The known Death Eater being Lucius Malfoy, not Draco, of course. Harry may have insulted Draco with that before, but he hadn't meant it at all.

Hermione and Harry had sealed up the room again with the illusion and the wards. It had taken away and Harry was fairly frantic now. Malfoy had been gone for at least an hour. He could have done anything in that time. Offered himself up to Voldemort...

Harry's thoughts were a little pessimistic at the moment.

"Ready?" he questioned. He wanted to give them a choice to back out. If not, it was basically him forcing them to go, and Harry would rather eat glass then do that to them.

"As we'll ever be" Hermione and Ron answered in unison. Harry grinned weakly at them, and they grinned back. They were never ready to go along with Harry's crazy rescue missions.

"Let's go then."

Harry swivelled on the spot, automatically taking a large breath of air before the sucking sensation swallowed him. He expected to slam into an Apparition ward- McGonagall had said the Ministry had set up appropriate defences after all- but it didn't happen.

Seconds later, Harry landed surely in a dusty ballroom. Or that's what it looked like at least. Twin cracks sounded next to him as Hermione and Ron apparated next to him. He jumped slightly, swivelling round towards the noise. When he recognised them, he smiled weakly in welcome. They returned the smile...until suddenly their eyes widened. Harry turned swiftly again and began to withdraw his wand.

But as a bright light suddenly shone in his eyes, Harry realised someone had beaten him to it.

The owner of the wand wasn't Draco either. They were taller...and smelt strongly of blood.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Oh no! Who could they be?**

**Review my lovelies! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Sorry it's taken so long for me to update! I have a new job, which limits my writing time. I got a flood of Alerts on the last chapter...so I assume people still like it?**

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry's hand froze, just as he managed to touch his wand. His fingers were numb, unable to move the few extra millimetres towards it.

The wand light in his face moved slowly up to his forehead.

Harry heard Hermione suck in a sharp breath as the mysterious wand holder let out a faint sneer. It did sound awfully familiar. He held a blank expression on his face even though a deep sense of dread was filling him. Thanks to his rather obvious scar, the wand holder probably knew who he was.

He chose not to say anything as the wand lowered to the middle of his chest before making a very familiar gesture. Harry felt his wand fly from his pocket and it was quickly joined by Hermione and Ron's. Hermione let out a squeak this time, and Harry desperately wanted to tell her to shut up. Their situation was bad enough at the moment and he needed to concentrate on finding a way out of this. The wand holder caught them deftly and Harry could just make out their hand slipping the stolen wands into his robe pocket.

Harry let out a calming breath and allowed his hand to slip from his now empty pocket. Fear was washing over him in waves now. Unobtrusively, he stepped backwards to block Hermione out of the wand holder's view. If this mysterious wand holder _was_ a Death Eater, he would target her in a second...probably not after disembowelling Harry, but pretty soon afterwards.

But, apparently the wand holder had noticed Harry's actions, and laughed maliciously at him. "Don't worry, Mr Potter. Your girlfriend is quite safe over there...for the moment anyway." His voice was raspy, as if he had been in a desert devoid of water for a while.

His wand was still pointed quite firmly at Harry's heart.

Harry scowled at the wand holder, placing himself directly in front of Hermione now. He could feel Ron mirroring his actions, covering Hermione from the left. He was going to trust the word of a wizard holding a wand at his chest. He may not think things through sometimes- rather like this situation apparently- but that didn't mean he was stupid.

"Who-" Harry started to say boldly, but was interrupted by a voice that _did not_, he told himself firmly, make his chest squeeze pleasantly.

"Sev, lower your wand before you faint. I need to treat your wounds." Harry couldn't have been happier to hear Draco Malfoy's voice, even though it held a certain cold, dead quality that made Harry wince and take a step towards Draco.

But then Harry registered what Draco had just said.

"Snape!" he snarled, fully prepared to tackle the murderer to the floor. His legs were taught, ready to spring at him. The familiar feeling of fury, the same sort of fury he had unleashed on Draco, rose up in him rapidly. He could feel the power flowing into him. Flooding him.

Three things happened rapidly then, that made Harry stop in his tracks.

Ron grabbed Harry's arm quite firmly, halting his movements. The lights in the room came flickering on as Harry stared furiously at Ron, who in turn was staring just past Harry's shoulder, his eyes wide. Why the hell was Ron stopping him? Sure Snape had his wand...but Harry had that power. The power he had used on Draco.

Oh wait, he had avoided telling Ron and Hermione about that hadn't he.

As he stared at Ron, he felt a strong arm grab him...and then a pale hand slapped him quite resolutely across the face. White spots danced in Harry's vision. His hand came up weakly to hold the burning cheek and he turned his face again slowly to face an extremely angry Draco Malfoy.

"Snap out of it, Potter!" he ordered harshly. His eyes were burning into Harry's, and somewhere deep inside Harry couldn't help thinking that an angry Draco beat a cold one any day, even if Harry risked a slap now and again.

Speaking of the slap, Harry's hearing was slowly coming back to him. He could hear Ron yelling loudly at Malfoy, who in turn was ignoring him. He was staring at Harry instead expectantly...and also with concealed hurt. Harry gazed back confused. What exactly was he meant to be doing right now? What was Draco waiting for?

Suddenly, the sound of several objects clattering to the floor filled the hall they were in.

Harry jumped slightly, looking around. He then caught sight of Hermione and Ron's expressions. They both looked stricken at Harry, fear flickering slightly in their eyes. Hermione's eyes also held a small amount of realisation.

Oh.

He straightened up and turned back to Snape, and what he saw made his eyes widen and his jaw drop.

God he looked worse than Harry had remembered, even worse than in his...vision. Snape's robes were ripped and bloody. His eyes were bloodshot and they stood out starkly in comparison to his ashen face.

And then Harry noticed Snape's left arm. Blood was dripping down his hand, the amount of it shocking. Harry couldn't see what exactly the injury was, as it was covered up by Snape's long black sleeve. But, if his vision was anything to go by, Harry had a pretty good idea what was wrong.

Oh Merlin, those visions.

And they had been visions, not dreams as Harry had been trying to convince himself. Snape had obviously done something to anger Voldemort. Actually, what was Snape doing here? The last Harry had "seen" of him, he was locked up in Voldemort's dungeons. Not that Snape would have anything against Dungeons considering his previous career, but the chains hadn't looked too pleasant.

"Close your mouth, Potter. I've had enough of your vacant expressions to last me a lifetime." Snape sneered, albeit a little weaker than usual. He was giving Harry a piercing look, obviously wondering about Harry's unfortunate display of wandless magic before. Harry refused to back down though and returned his look with a glare. He wasn't going to let Snape's words bother him...but he was going to bring Snape back to the Order if it was the last thing he did.

Obviously, considering he was wandless and Snape currently had his wand, this plan would have to wait for a while.

Draco turned away from Harry and rested a hand on Snape's arm. He almost seemed...caring.

Harry shuddered inwardly. Who would want to care for that...man?

He glanced back at Hermione and Ron again. They were still looking stricken, but less scared of him now. Hermione caught his eye finally. She took a shuddering breath in before walking over to him slowly. She smiled weakly and reached out hesitantly to grasp his arm. He stared at her in relief, as she turned towards Ron and looked at him expectantly.

He knew they wouldn't abandon him, even though odd things were going on with him. They would stick with him till the end and help him through...whatever this thing was. But enough about that...they had other things to worry about.

Draco was standing next to Snape, blocking their view of his wounds with his body. He seemed to be healing Snape...

Harry's head felt jumbled, full of thoughts. What the hell was Draco doing here with Snape? Why had Dumbledore left them things in his will? Why had he- Oh God, Harry didn't even know at all. He knew that Draco wasn't a Death Eater...he was faithful to the Order. Or at least he had been...until Harry had driven him away.

What if Draco was working with Snape?

Harry's heart stuttered in his chest.

What if Draco was joining the Death Eaters again...and as a welcome present he would present Voldemort with Harry Potter?

No he was just being-

"Harry..."whispered Hermione, "Calm down. I don't think we have anything to worry about at the moment."

Harry realised he had been clenching her hand tightly. He forced himself to loosen his grip before giving her an incredulous look. "Hermione, we're in Malfoy Manor with Snape. He has our wands...and it doesn't look like he's going to be giving them back anytime soon. Why the hell should I calm down?!" he retorted back quietly.

She still looked scared but was also giving him a knowing look. "I don't think Snape is part of the Death Eaters anymore...and I definitely don't think Draco is in any danger of joining them again."

Harry shook his head slightly. How did she know that? She hadn't even seen Dumbledore's will...had she?

He cast a sharp look in her direction.

She was looking warily at Draco and Snape, not even looking in Harry's direction. She apparently had decided to ignore his sarcastic comments. How predictable.

Well, Harry didn't care if it Snape appeared to be on their side or not. He had killed Dumbledore and he better have a good explanation for himself. Harry wasn't sure what exactly he was going to do if Snape didn't have a good explanation for his actions...and there wasn't a hell of a lot he could do about it either, considering Snape had his wand.

Harry needed to get his wand back.

He released Hermione's hand and strode boldly over to Snape and Draco. He ignored Malfoy's cold stare, and opened his mouth to address Snape. He was cut off rather rudely before he even uttered a syllable though.

"Potter, I know you're going to ask me insufferable questions...so I might as well save you the time and tell you I have no intention of explaining anything to you" he drawled arrogantly, his black eyes staring blankly into Harry's face.

Harry saw red. "Why the hell not? What are you doing here anyway? Are you still with the Death Eaters? Are you planning on kidnapping us?" he blurted out angrily. He couldn't just show up here, shove a wand in their faces and just expect them to roll with it! He was a wanted fugitive for Merlin's sake! He had turned his back on the Order and Dumbledore...well, Harry was still unsure on this one. He wanted to hear it from Snape though...his head felt too confused after learning about Dumbledore's will and he needed some goddamn answers.

Snape sneered at him again, his tone flat and cold. "Potter, I just believe I told you I wasn't going to be answering any of your questions." He turned back towards Draco, his body language tense.

"You coward! I think an explanation is the least you could give us!" Harry yelled, clenching his fists. What the hell was Snape scared about?

Harry was down on the floor in a second, Snape's wand a centimetre away from his face.

"Don't you dare call me a coward, Potter. You have no idea what I have been through for the Order, what I've been through for Dumbledore." Snape snarled in a quiet voice. He shut his mouth quickly afterwards, as if he had let something slip he shouldn't have.

So Snape had killed Dumbledore...but on Dumbledore's wishes. But why? Why wasn't Snape telling him?

Harry gave him a half- smile from his position on the floor. "Don't be too sure of that" he retorted softly, thinking back to his visions. And to Dumbledore's will.

Snape narrowed his eyes at Harry, suddenly as if realising something. And then he grinned. No, more like bared his teeth at Harry. He glanced up quickly towards Hermione and Ron, and then back down to Harry, a glint in his eye. "And how would you know that, Potter? Unless you haven't been blocking things you were meant to be blocking..."

Harry's blood ran cold at Hermione's gasp. He'd never hear the end of this one.

He raised his eyes up slowly to catch Draco's. He was gazing at Harry with a satisfied expression on his face. He turned away however, when Harry caught him watching. It sent a cold tendril into his heart.

For some strange reason, Draco's coolness to him was much more worrying than the prospect of one of Hermione's lecture that Harry knew was coming up.

And that worried him.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Deary me. What are they going to do about Draco? And GASP Snape! Who knew that one was coming then? Cookies for the people that did :) **


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I can't think of anything witty to say so... once again Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling, not me.**

**Sorry guys! It took me ages to update. I shall do better! I'm also going to give you a little snippet of the ending of the last chapter to jog your memory. **

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

"_You coward! I think an explanation is the least you could give us!" Harry yelled, clenching his fists. What the hell was Snape scared about?_

_Harry was down on the floor in a second, Snape's wand a centimetre away from his face._

"_Don't you dare call me a coward, Potter. You have no idea what I have been through for the Order, what I've been through for Dumbledore." Snape snarled in a quiet voice. He shut his mouth quickly afterwards, as if he had let something slip he shouldn't have._

_So Snape had killed Dumbledore...but on Dumbledore's wishes. But why? Why wasn't Snape telling him?_

_Harry gave him a half- smile from his position on the floor. "Don't be too sure of that" he retorted softly, thinking back to his visions. And to Dumbledore's will._

_Snape narrowed his eyes at Harry, suddenly as if realising something. And then he grinned. No, more like bared his teeth at Harry. He glanced up quickly towards Hermione and Ron, and then back down to Harry, a glint in his eye. "And how would you know that, Potter? Unless you haven't been blocking things you were meant to be blocking..."_

_Harry's blood ran cold at Hermione's gasp. He'd never hear the end of this one._

_He raised his eyes up slowly to catch Draco's. He was gazing at Harry with a satisfied expression on his face. He turned away however, when Harry caught him watching. It sent a cold tendril into his heart._

_For some strange reason, Draco's coolness to him was much more worrying than the prospect of one of Hermione's lecture that Harry knew was coming up._

_And that worried him._

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Snape finally pushed himself upwards, relieving the pressure on Harry's aching chest. Who knew such a skinny man could be so heavy? Or maybe it was just the force he was pushing down on Harry with that made his weight seem larger than it was.

Harry slowly stood up himself, warily keeping an eye on Snape's wand. Thankfully, Snape had tucked it back into his robe sleeve and was sneering at Harry again. Any trace of the previous fury he had shown to Harry had long disappeared beneath his usual emotionless expression. Well...not entirely emotionless; sneers usually conveyed disgust.

Immediately Ron and Hermione rushed over to his side. Ron was glaring furiously at Snape whilst giving Harry distinctly mistrusting looks. Harry didn't blame him. He had after all, not told them about his visions.

Hermione was giving him a cold look. "We'll talk about everything at headquarters. And I mean _everything"_ she whispered.

Harry winced. So that would be wandless magic and his visions. Sounded rather like torture to Harry.

He nodded reluctantly at her, before locking gazes with Draco. "I need to talk to you. Privately" he added when the others looked expectantly between him and Draco. Well, Hermione and Ron did. Snape looked like frankly he'd rather hang himself then listening to adolescent prattling. Not that Harry considered his conversations to be 'adolescent prattling', but Snape probably would.

Draco gave him a dismissive look before tilting his head towards one of the side rooms. Harry pulled away from Ron and Hermione, before following Draco's rapid footsteps across the room. He drew in a steadying breath as the tension between him and Draco grew. They finally reached the dusty room, which vaguely resembled a parlour, and Harry closed the door firmly behind him.

He kept his hand on the dirty doorknob for a few seconds before pulling himself together.

"Are you coming back?" he asked bluntly. He knew he was probably beating around the bush, but he didn't have enough patience to drag this out. Not when the faint panic that Draco would say no was creeping up his throat.

He turned round to face Draco, keeping the wince off his face when he met Draco's stoic face.

"No" came the equally blunt reply, and just as suddenly Harry felt his airway close up.

Draco wasn't coming back?! What was he thinking?! He had Death Eaters after him for God's sake! He couldn't just stay here, not when Draco's own father was one of the people trying to kill him!

"Wh-"Harry began to say heatedly when Draco broke in.

"Not yet, atleast. I need to sort some things out." His face was impassive, but his eyes slid slightly towards the wall. Almost guiltily actually... Or maybe it was nervousness. Maybe, he was nervous of Harry.

Not surprising what Harry had almost done to him.

Harry's airways, which had loosened up slightly when Draco informed him he would be coming back, tightened up abruptly again. Draco did hate him then.

"Look..." Harry choked out, "I didn't mean-I didn't know what I was doing...I can't-I didn't know I could do that." His tone was pleading, but he couldn't be bothered to gather enough pride to care right now. He didn't even know why exactly he was so desperate to get Draco back anyway, just that whenever he thought about Draco being in danger...or even killed, his throat closed up and his stomach did unpleasant acrobatics inside him.

Draco was shaking his head slightly and Harry's stomach dropped to his feet. But then he spoke.

"I know you didn't, Potter and I'd be lying if I said that didn't worry me. But, I've got used to the 101 amazing things Harry Potter can do that normal wizards can't. Hell, it makes my life all the more interesting." He half smiled at Harry and Harry's stomach rose a few inches again.

"It's just that..." Draco continued, "I need to be here with Snape right now. He knows what's going on...and he needs help. He can give me the information I need."

And then more quietly so that Harry had to strain his ears to hear him, he whispered, "and he's the only family I have right now."

Harry stood rooted to the spot before panic rose in him again. "What the hell are you on, Draco? I know he's not really a Death Eater right now, but he was capable of killing Dumbledore! You're not safe with him!"

Draco flinched slightly at the mention of Dumbledore before facing Harry with blazing eyes. "I don't recall that I am _on_ anything, Potter and in case you've forgotten, I helped killed Dumbledore! I might not have wanted to help, but I did anyway! What if Snape is in the same situation!? Did you think of that? Or do you condemn me with him?!"

Harry clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "Don't be stupid, Dr-Malfoy! Of course I hadn't forgotten; I've just gotten over it! Okay, maybe 'gotten over it' is the wrong expression. I've forgiven you. I haven't forgiven Snape...and I won't until I have all the details. The details he's neglecting to tell any of us!" He knew he was raising his voice again and he tried desperately to reign in his anger, lest he have any other unpleasant 'accidents'.

Draco sneered, looking remarkably like the Malfoy Harry knew from Hogwarts. "He hasn't neglected to tell all of us Potter...and anyway, I'm safer with Snape than most of the people at the Order." His eyes pierced Harry with this last comment and Harry flinched visibly. Draco's words struck him somewhere deep he didn't want to think about.

Dropping his head slightly in defeat, Harry turned towards the door again. "Alright, well it obviously doesn't matter what I say, you're going to stay anyway. I just- well, I'll see you soon, hopefully." He moved towards the door and turned the handle. "And by the way...Draco, I am sorry about what happened."

As he made his way towards a frightened looking Ron and a furious Hermione, he heard a quiet "Same Potter" echo from the room he had just left.

Casting Snape one last look he held his hand out for their wands and was surprised when Snape handed them over without a fight. He did however send Harry a sneer, but Harry ignored that completely. Instead, he turned towards Ron and Hermione and nodded once tersely. "We're going."

Cutting off the immediate puzzled questions, he grasped their arms and Side-Apparated them out of there.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Days went by and the disappointment in Harry grew. He didn't know why Draco's absence was affecting him this badly. By all rights it shouldn't. They had hated each other in school and hadn't been much better at first. But then something had happened to push them together. Harry didn't know if it was the discovery of Harry's empathic powers or even the training they did together, but 

something had developed. A deep connection between them, Harry hazarded a guess at. They weren't quite friends; they didn't know enough about each other for that, but there was something driving Harry to make sure Draco was safe...protected.

It was annoying the hell out of him.

Whatever it was, Harry tried desperately to put it out of his mind. Hermione had certainly helped with that. As soon as they had got back from Malfoy Manor she immediately accosted Harry. He could still remember the fight they had vividly.

"_What the hell were you thinking Harry? You should have told us about the visions...and not to mention that you could suddenly do wandless magic! That's not normal, Harry! Voldemort could have been possessing you...sending you visions like last time!" Hermione screamed at the top of her voice._

_Ron was shrinking back against the wall, but Harry ignored him._

"_Oh yeah, that's right Hermione!" Harry laughed bitterly, "Bring that up again! It's not like I would have rushed off to rescue _Snape _anyway, not like I did with...him" _

_They both ignored the fact that Harry refrained from using Sirius' name._

"_I know you wouldn't have, but that's not the point! I'm sorry for bringing up Sirius again, but I hate it when you keep things from us! It makes us feel like you don't value us enough to confide in us anymore, Harry. Is it because you have Malfoy now that you don't need to tell me and Ron things?" she honestly sounded upset, angry tears gathering at the corners of her eyes._

"_Don't be stupid, Hermione! I didn't tell Malfoy anything!" Harry retorted, stressing the use of Draco's last name. "I just wanted to forget about it...pretend it never happened! I wasn't even sure it was a real vision!" He hit the wall slightly with his hand._

_She glared before casting her eyes downwards. "I worry about you Harry! You know how to close your mind to these things...so why do they keep happening? Why weren't you worried enough to come tell us?" _

_Harry threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Of course I was bloody worried, Hermione! It's in my head! My head, not your head! I thought that if it happened again, I would definitely tell someone, but I didn't have a bloody chance to see!"_

_Hermione scowled, placing her hands on her hips. "I know it's your head, but I'm your friend. I'm supposed to help you with these things, alright. But how am I meant to that when you won't even tell us when things are going on? Unless, you think that I wouldn't care, because in that case, you're stupider than I thought!"_

_Fury rose up in Harry."So I'm stupid now am I, Hermione? Well I wouldn't want it to infect you...so I'll just go now." With that he stormed up the stairs, ignoring Hermione's bellows for him to come back. He just wanted her to leave off._

Well, that had been about a week and a half ago, and Hermione and Harry had made up yesterday. There had been many tears-on the part of Hermione, and apologies. The rest of the occupants of Number 12 Grimmauld Place were sincerely grateful though, having gotten sick of the awkward 

silences and tensions in every room. Never mind most of the Order had no clue what Hermione and Harry had argued about...and tactfully hadn't asked after Fred and George had gotten hexed after making a joke about it to Hermione.

Only Ron, Hermione and Harry had any idea about Harry's visions and wandless powers. And Snape and Draco of course, but Harry was trying desperately not to think about them. They had decided not to tell the Order yet about Harry's powers or visions until either occurrence happened again. And it hadn't. Not since Malfoy Manor. Something that Harry was eternally grateful for. Having to explain to the Order that he might be or have been possessed by Voldemort was not going to go down well.

Hermione hadn't been happy with their agreement and was almost desperate to tell McGonagall, but after their argument she had been reluctant to disturb the peaceful waters they were currently resting on. So, nothing had been said and instead Harry had been extra careful with his emotions, taking deep breaths when things annoyed him.

People weren't terribly concerned about Draco's disappearance, bar Hermione, Ron, Harry, McGonagall and Kingsley. Molly was on the fence really. The rest of them had been muttering that they'd "known that Death Eater was going to desert them all along" and "hadn't they told McGonagall so?"

It annoyed Harry to no end.

The Order had also been doing other things to annoy Harry; Hestia especially. Everybody was worried about Mundungus's disappearance and were looking at Harry more expectantly than usual. They all seemed positive that Harry had this enormous power that could defeat the Dark Lord.

Harry didn't see it.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

Harry entered the room, stretching his arms high above his head. The Order had been sent on a false alarm again. Harry was beginning to wonder whether Death Eaters were setting them up, just to annoy the Order they had had so many of them. This one was at an abandon warehouse and there had been no sign of Death Eater activity whatsoever. The Order was seriously in a lot of trouble now that Mundungus had been captured.

Clicking his shoulders, Harry made his way over to Hermione who was standing in the corner of the room with a big smile on her face...an overtly happy smile on her face actually; a bit odd considering they had had yet another false alarm. Harry passed it off however, and went to greet her. She had stayed this time to keep Molly company.

He went to hug her until he noticed she was flicking a quick glance over his shoulder. Curious, Harry glanced back...

...only to lock eyes with familiar silver ones.

Harry's heart stuttered slightly in his chest and without thinking he spun around quickly. His mind was a blank slate apart from the words "he's back" circling it. He took one hesitant step forward, but then was encouraged by Draco's weak smile.

He jogged towards Draco...and wrapped his arms quite firmly around him. Ignoring the gasps of some of the Order members in the room, he clutched at Draco finally feeling the panic that had been permanently lodged in his throat dissipate.

Draco had been standing frozen for a few seconds, but an embarrassed hand came up to pat Harry on the back.

Pathetically, even that small gesture sent frissons of happiness into Harry's heart. Draco was back and nothing right now could ruin that.

Atleast until Malfoy whispered, "You need to go see Snape" into his ear.

_**HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMHPDMH**_

**Longer chapter than normal simply because I am a horrible writer and should update more. I will try to from now on.**

**I would also like to thank all the people that have reviewed and put this story on alert. I haven't the room to mention names, so I hope you all know who you are.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no matter how much I want to.**

**And oh how I want to...**

**:D**

**IMPORTANT NOTICE****- ****Read or Die (Only joking, but it is important)**

**This is a longer chapter again. I'm actually thinking of sticking previous chapters together, just to reduce the number of chapters there actually is. I thought this would just be a relatively short story...but alas, my imagination (and J.K Rowling's I suppose) has run away with me!**

**Tell me if you guys think that would confuse you too much. Thanks.**

* * *

Harry froze before carefully disentangling his limbs from Draco's. It probably shouldn't have been such a complicated procedure, after all he was only hugging Draco, but his limbs seemed reluctant to obey Harry's commands.

Ignoring the pleasant smell emanating from Draco's hair, Harry stepped back and looked around quickly. The Order had different levels of shock displayed on their faces. Some even had expressions tinged with dismay.

Harry didn't want to think about what that meant.

Instead he grasped the top of Draco's arm and dragged him into the kitchen. It was empty. Good. He ignored Draco's muttered protests before turning on him quickly. "What were you thinking, Draco?! Anybody could have heard you in there!" Harry hissed, shooting worried looks at the door. He suddenly noticed he hadn't let go of Draco's arm and released it quickly. Pretending he hadn't seen the hurt dance in Draco's eyes for a second, he instead gave him an expectant look.

Draco rolled his eyes once before giving Harry a sly grin. "Since when do you care what happens to Snape?"

Well that one stumped Harry. He floundered for a few seconds, his mouth hanging open like a suffocating fish before pulling himself together. "I-I don't care what happens to Snape, I just...just...hmm." He wasn't too sure he could finish that sentence. He glared at Draco who was surveying him with a slightly triumphant gaze.

"As eloquent as that was...I might as well tell you I set a silencing ward up around us right before you jumped me," Draco sniffed teasingly. "I told you I was coming back, Potter. There really wasn't any need to molest me in such a fashion."

Harry's mouth had been hanging open from the minute Draco had suggested that Harry jump him.

Okay, maybe Draco hadn't said that exactly, but that was what a little voice in Harry's head had interpreted and displayed fascinating images that didn't in any way disgust Harry. This, in itself, was probably very worrying. Shaking his head slightly, Harry closed his mouth before protesting loudly. "I didn't _jump_ you! Christ, Draco, it's called a hug!"

Draco smiled at Harry and his traitorous body shivered slightly. This was all wrong. Draco was a boy...and Harry did not like boys. He liked girls, like Ginny. Ginny was nice.

"I was joking, Potter," Draco rolled his eyes again, "I thought it was all fun and games with you Gryffindors." He sounded odd. Almost...happy, Harry surmised. Not surprising, considering all the time spent in Number 12 Grimmauld Place hadn't exactly been all that great recently. It had probably been a nice break for Draco spending time...in his old Manor...that belonged to Lucius Malfoy...the Death Eater...

Harry got angry without knowing _why_ exactly, all over again.

He didn't like this _possessiveness_ Draco was making him feel. It was weird and just not _right_.

"Yeah...jokes," Harry intoned dumbly. He couldn't remember the last time he had properly joked with Ron and Hermione, and he had certainly never joked with Draco. There hadn't exactly been the time. Unknowingly, Harry's eyes darkened and he lowered his eyes to the floor, thinking.

Suddenly a finger poked him abruptly on the shoulder. "Hey...You there?" Draco teased, albeit with a little concern.

The moment Draco's finger had come into contact with Harry's arm bolts of energy travelled up it. Trying to cover up another shiver, Harry moved surreptitiously away from Draco. He hardened his heart when another flicker of hurt passed over Draco's face. It couldn't be helped. Harry needed to stay away from Malfoy...his body reacted oddly if he didn't.

"Yes. I was just thinking." Harry said slowly. He changed the subject quickly, "What does Snape want me for?" He folded his arms over his chest, lest he reach out an arm to lie comfortingly on Draco's arm...or chest. He wasn't really picky where he laid it.

He mentally slapped himself. He _should_ mind! And he should definitely keep his hands off Drac- _Malfoy_ until he could keep this...whatever it was, under control. Hopefully before Malfoy noticed something was wrong.

"I don't know if you're going to like this. Maybe you should just come and see for yourself..." For once in his life, Draco sounded reluctant and not his usual cocky self. "He said you'd probably refuse if he asked you outright."

Harry frowned. "Well, funnily enough, that doesn't make me want to jump at the chance to visit Snape either." He narrowed his eyes at Dr-Malfoy. Would Malfoy really lead him into something _that_ horrible? And it did sound horrible too, if Malfoy was that worried about asking him.

Draco smiled again and Harry looked away quickly, denying inwardly that he _did not_ shiver again. Locking his body in place, he looked back at Draco, who was giving him a blank look. Harry cursed himself silently, thinking that maybe Draco had noticed the shiver after all.

The shiver that _did not_ happen...and damn it all, Harry was calling him Draco again.

If he did, he didn't say anything, but instead decided to walk towards the fireplace at the end of the kitchen. "You coming?" he asked expectantly.

Harry gaped at him. "Malfoy, why the hell would I want to visit Snape? What could he _possibly_ want to tell me that I'm so interested in hearing? You must be mental if you think I'm going through that fireplace. For one, Hermione would kill me."

Draco raised an elegant eyebrow. "Who said he wanted to _tell_ you something?"

Harry gaped again, until he realised how stupid he must look and flushed quickly, closing his mouth. "Well if he doesn't want to tell me something, what does he want?" he asked defensively. It wasn't that stupid of an assumption.

Draco bit his lip thoughtfully-an action that had Harry dragging his eyes away again. He ignored the flare of heat in his groin and looked back at _Malfoy _when he started speaking again.

"Think of it as...an offer," Malfoy said cryptically before throwing a handful of floo powder into the flames. "Malfoy Manor!" he called and stepped gracefully into the fireplace.

Harry stared after him for several minutes before walking over to the fireplace.

He knew he was going to regret this.

* * *

Harry tumbled out clumsily and landed on the marble floor with a groan. Stupid purebloods and their hard floor. He began to push himself up when a hand thrust itself into his vision. "I was wondering if you'd backed out, Potter. You didn't half take a long time to get here." Malfoy drawled.

Harry ignored the tempting hand in front of his vision and opted to push himself up from the ground himself. He had to stay vigilant after all. He straightened up his bruised spine, only wincing a little bit. "I don't recall agreeing to anything in the first place, Malfoy." He replied slightly frostily. Serves Malfoy right for being so damn cryptic, he thought.

Malfoy slowly withdrew his still outstretched hand and crossed his arms. A carefully emotionless expression appeared on his face and he turned around briskly. "Well it doesn't matter anyway. You're here." He strode quickly over to the door and Harry sighed slightly in relief.

His plan appeared to be working, even if it was hurting Malfoy in the process.

He followed Malfoy reluctantly, not without casting the fireplace one last longing look.

They crossed a dark, dusty hall and Harry resisted the urge to cough. It seemed whatever Snape and Malfoy had been doing for the last week and a half, it hadn't been cleaning. It was odd. Harry thought that a manor this size would have at least a dozen house elves, yet the place was as quite as a cemetery and just as filthy.

He followed Malfoy to the same hall as before and was instantly on guard. Snape was sitting in what seemed to be the only clean piece of furniture in the room and he raised himself out of the chair the second Harry and Malfoy walked into the room.

Harry's hairs on the back of his neck went up as an unpleasant expression crossed Snape's face. "So Potter, I assume you know why you're here."

Harry glared at Malfoy, who didn't meet his eyes. "Sorry, but you'll have to explain." Harry replied with a hint of hostility. Okay, more than a hint. He stopped about three feet away from Snape and crossed his arms.

Snape's mouth twisted unpleasantly and he shot Malfoy a look before raising his eyes heavenward. "As arrogant as ever, Potter. It's a pity considering I was going to offer you some vital training. I might have to rethink my offer."

Malfoy gave a loud cough that sounded suspiciously like words, but Harry shrugged it off. He was more concerned about what Snape had just said. "What training? I don't think I'll need to know how to betray my comrades," Harry retorted snidely. The arrogant comment had stung. Next thing Snape would be insulting his father.

Instead he got a wand pointed at his face.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," Snape snarled dangerously, "I know you inherited your father's stupidity but try to restrain your idiocy please."

An unearthly wind whipped at Harry's hair and clothing that shook Snape's hand slightly. Harry unseeingly stared into Snape's face, his hands clenching and unclenching sporadically. There was an ominous rumble as the dirty mirrors on the left side of the hall started shaking in their frames.

Almost as suddenly as it started it cut out, the rumble of the mirrors cut off by a loud voice.

"That's enough. Both of you," Draco ordered firmly, an undercurrent of power in his voice. His arms were raised, holding the mirrors still in their frames and halting the beginnings of a tornado Harry was creating. Apparently Malfoy's control over the wind overpowered Harry's unfocused wandless magic.

Harry blinked rapidly, trying to get his anger under control. Oh, this was bad. He had told Hermione that if something like that happened again they would inform the rest of the Order. He could just imagine the reactions that would provoke...the frightened looks people would give him.

Harry let out a quiet groan and placed shaky hands over his face. He couldn't tell if Snape had lowered his wand, but found he had more important things to worry about.

"Potter...Harry," Malfoy said, and Harry immediately shied away from the use of his first name. Malfoy wasn't meant to get close to him. He was meant to stay away until Harry had gotten control over his...attraction. "Snape thinks that by using your empathic powers whilst helping with my training, you...opened certain gates in your mind," Malfoy continued softly, "He-"

Snape snorted, interrupting Malfoy.

"_We_ think that's how you can do wandless magic. Your empathic abilities certainly don't help things either. Other people's emotions lend to your power." Malfoy finished abruptly and Harry hesitantly lowered his hands from his face. Snape was no longer standing in front of him, but was standing to Harry's right with his back to him.

"Well that's all well and good, but how the hell am I suppose to _control_ this?!" Harry asked Malfoy desperately. Surprisingly Malfoy smiled and glanced at Snape.

Dread began to well up in Harry's stomach. He really hoped Malfoy wasn't going to suggest what Harry thought he was going to suggest...

"Snape has offered to teach you how to control it," Malfoy said, "Well offered might be the wrong word...but I think it would be a good idea." He glanced down at his feet, continuing to not meet Harry's eyes. Not surprising; he knew how much Harry would hate this idea.

"Lessons with Snape? Thanks but no thanks. I've had experience with those already," Harry snarled. Obviously Malfoy hadn't heard about the Occlumency 'lessons' Snape had given Harry in fifth year. He wouldn't have suggested this idiotic idea if he had. Frankly Harry was astonished that Snape had agreed to the idea in the first place, considering how furious he had been with Harry when he had seen Snape's memories.

"So you want the people you love to die, do you Potter? Are you convinced you can stay in control long enough not to hurt them?" Snape spat out suddenly. "How arrogant of you." Snape swept around as Harry withdrew his wand. He wasn't going to be helpless again in front of Snape. All Snape did was sneer at him though.

"You will kill people if you don't learn how to control your magic, Potter." Snape said harshly. "Frankly I don't think Albus would have appreciated you murdering the Order in a fit of rage."

Harry trembled in anger. "Don't you dare bring Dumbledore into this! This has nothing to do with him!" He didn't want to talk about Dumbledore with Snape, not when everything seemed so _grey_ at the moment. Not black or white...just grey. He wasn't sure what happened with Snape and Dumbledore but he was sure that Snape was going to divulge that information anytime soon.

Snape scoffed at Harry. "But it does, Potter. It also has everything to do with Voldemort. How exactly were you planning on killing him? In a fit of rage? Maybe one of the projectiles you doubtlessly would be flinging around would pierce him through the heart? I doubt it." He sneered at Harry, his black eyes full with scorn.

Harry cast his eyes downward. That was a question...how was he going to defeat Voldemort? Maybe...maybe if he learned to control his wandless magic he'd have a better chance...

A hand touched his lightly and Harry jumped in surprise. Upon seeing Malfoy next to him, he took another step back. He was too close. Harry could smell the slightly scent of cinnamon from Draco's hair- his soft, shiny hair...hair that just begged for Harry to thread his hands in-

Oh crap he was calling him Draco again; Harry berated himself furiously and dragged his eyes away from Malfoy's hair. But then he looked back again. He had almost hurt Malfoy before hadn't...

Harry wasn't sure why he was so worried about leaving Malfoy with Snape anymore. After all, it had been Harry that had almost killed him.

Harry glanced back at Snape who was gazing at Harry knowingly. Malfoy had probably told Snape what had happened. He would've had to explain why he was at Malfoy Manor when he had the protection of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry bit his lip, before opening his mouth slowly. "Will this be-I mean...how will you teach me?" he asked hesitantly. He knew he would probably accept anyway, no matter what Snape said- He just wanted to know so he could steel himself beforehand.

Snape's mouth curved into a very sinister smile that had Harry's insides clenching unpleasantly. "That would be for me to know and for you to find out, Potter." Was it just Harry's imagination or did Snape not spit out his last name that time? "I assure you, you _will_ have to work though." He sneered unpleasantly at Harry.

Great.

* * *

Harry stumbled out of the fireplace in the kitchen and quickly grasped the counter when he nearly slammed into it. He sighed loudly and slumped over it. Wandless magic lessons with Snape...

Was it just Harry or did that sound like torture? He wasn't even sure that Snape wasn't a Death Eater anymore. In all, it was a very, very stupid idea.

He leant his elbows on the counter and cradled his head helplessly. He wasn't even sure he could tell Hermione and Ron. Hermione would definitely want to know what changed his mind, and then Harry would have to tell her about the incident just know. That is, considering she still left him alive after flaying him for agreeing to meet Snape regularly. Ron would probably recite a list of reasons as to why this was a very bad idea- reasons that Harry was already fully aware of.

The kitchen had been silent as Harry mused over his thoughts, but suddenly the Floo flared into life, the green flames lighting up the relatively dark room. If Harry was correct, it was probably around 7 o'clock. Harry grasped his wand as a figure emerged from the fireplace but lowered it in astonishment as Draco strode up to him nonchalantly.

"But-I thought you were staying with Snape?" Harry asked flabbergasted. Draco had even tried to shake his hand to say goodbye. Not that Harry had let him get that close. He had instead pretended he didn't see Draco stretch out his hand and flooed out of there. Not before agreeing to come back tomorrow that is.

Draco shrugged slightly. "I changed my mind. I hope you haven't given my room to someone else. I was beginning to like it." He leant against the counter, next to Harry and smiled softly.

Harry could feel himself flushing and desperately tried to calm it down. Just because Drac- Malfoy, damn it, was standing this close to him did not mean a thing. "No we didn't. It's still there. I-I'm glad your back" Harry said whilst shuffling inconspicuously away from Malfoy's shoulder that was dangerously close to touching his.

Suddenly Malfoy laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and those infuriating sparks flew up his arm again. His face was definitely hot this time as he turned to glance at Malfoy innocently.

"Alright Potter, what the hell is going on?" Malfoy asked angrily. "Ever since I came back- not including the molestation of my character- you've been avoiding coming anywhere close to me! Are you _that_ disgusted by me that you can't stand for me to even touch your arm?!" The hand on Harry's shoulder tightened painfully and Harry winced slightly, before shaking his head vehemently. He would have been happy to let Malfoy carry on with that little assumption, but no, Malfoy had to bring it up and _look _at Harry with that hurt in his eyes.

Harry's heart twisted painfully as Malfoy glanced away, obviously berating himself for confronting Harry about it. He released Harry's shoulder and began to turn round, when Harry caught his arm, cursing himself all the while. "No-it's not that. Don't be stupid, Malfoy. I just...I can't...I mean- with you..."he bit his lip at the flood of incoherent words that were spilling out of his mouth. Nothing he just said made the slightest bit of sense...but oddly Malfoy had turned back around again.

"Then why are you calling me Malfoy again?" Malfoy uttered quietly. His face was full of barely concealed hurt and Harry almost smacked himself, before reminding himself firmly that this was what was meant to happen. Malfoy was meant to back off and Harry could stop this awful, terrible _need _for Malfoy.

Harry looked down again, not wanting to lock eyes with Malfoy when a hand lifted his chin. Harry couldn't even flinch at the sparks of energy that ran through him; instead he slowly raised his eyes to Dra-Mal- Oh hell, Draco's. He couldn't keep calling him Malfoy when all he saw when looking at the Slytherin was _Draco_, not Malfoy in any way.

The emotions whirling around Draco's eyes were hard to look. "Because...because..." Harry whispered quietly. As he looked at Draco he couldn't for the life of him remember why he needed to stay away from Draco again, not when he was looking at Harry so deeply...so hungrily.

And then Draco's lips touched his and Harry's mind went completely blank.

* * *

**Now I know that was a very horrible place to stop, but you guys should be grateful! I added an extra 1000 words than I usually do just so I could include that lovely bit at the end for you.**

**I hoped you liked the chapter and also if you have not read the Important Notice at the beginning, please do so.**

**:D**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own the amazing world of Harry Potter. If I did, I would not be struggling to pay for a new pair of straightners.**

**I know. Three months is appalling. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you have stopped reading my story. I hope not though.**

**The chapters have been pretty T Rated so far...I have a feeling that will change very soon.**

* * *

Draco's lips barely brushed Harry's, a whisper of soft lips and then nothing. He stepped back and looked at Harry with a gaze so sharp he could almost feel it. Harry barely noticed though. He wanted to raise a shaky hand to his lips just to check they weren't on fire, because Merlin, they felt like they were.

Instead he raised his eyes to Draco's. Barely breathing, Harry moved backwards along the counter. He couldn't do this right now. They were in the middle of a war. The Saviour of the Wizarding World couldn't be...well doing whatever Harry was doing with Malfoy. It was wrong and someone was bound to get hurt. He edged back again when Draco stepped towards him.

"Draco. Look. Just stop. We can't do this _now_. I mean I know we're both on the same side now, but I shouldn't be doing _this_ with anyone" Harry said shakily, "I'm not sure how this even works between boys... I mean, I know how this _works_ between boys. I just didn't know that I wanted to..._work_ with boys." He mentally slapped himself around the head for sounding so stupid. His thought processes obviously didn't work with Draco in such close proximity.

"Potter?" Draco drawled unexpectedly. His eyelashes briefly flickered over his eyes and a focussed expression came over his face.

Harry shut his mouth.

"Be quiet for once," Draco ordered and closed the distance Harry had work so hard to achieve, in a few short steps. His mouth once again met Harry's and there wasn't a damn thing he could think of to stop it now.

* * *

"Potter! We're calling a meeting _now_ so get your arse in gear!" Moody barked gruffly, "Go get Granger and Weasley while you're at it." He stumped loudly back down the stairs and out of Harry's hearing, cursing his leg as he walked.

Harry laid spread eagle on his bed for a few seconds before swinging his feet over the side and onto the cold floor. He couldn't think about Draco right now. It must be serious if the Order was calling a meeting right now and he needed to concentrate on that, not on the disaster that happened in the kitchen earlier.

He swiftly put that thought to the back of his mind and crossed the dark corridor to Hermione's room, pointedly ignoring a door further down the hall. He had a pretty good idea where Ron would be. Knocking sharply he waited for an answer.

"Ron? Hermione? Order meeting downstairs now," Harry informed them tersely. He still hadn't told them Snape wanted to give him lessons. He wasn't sure if they would take it well. Actually no, he was sure they wouldn't take the news well. For now, he reckoned he should wait and see how the first lesson goes. He would deny it if they did question him about it though. And knowing Hermione, she definitely would.

Harry suspected she already knew something was up. She had seen Draco return and then disappear with Harry afterwards. Shortly after Harry had come back again she had cornered him and given him a questioning look. At the time Harry hadn't been sure _what _to tell her, but fortunately when he had started stuttering incoherently she had let him escape to his bedroom to mope.

He certainly wasn't planning on telling them about the mishap he had with Draco earlier either. Ron would be sure to blow his top. After all, hadn't Harry said he didn't want to be with Ginny because of the danger he would be putting her in?

Oh God, it would be the same with Draco would it? Damn it all. Well, it wasn't as if Harry needed to worry about that anymore. Draco was too angry with him and-

Harry cut himself off as he nearly toppled headfirst down a flight of stairs. Right, that was why he was meant to be concentrating on other things, like the Order meeting. Now that Harry thought about it, what was there to discuss recently? There hadn't been any raids recently, not that they would have been able to stop them anyway considering their informant was currently missing. Actually, that could be what McGonagall wanted to talk to them about. The whole Order force had been looking for any sign of Mundungus.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Harry followed the sound of anxious voices to one of the bigger dining rooms. Spread out in chairs along the table were; Remus, Tonks, McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Fred, George, Ginny, Bill, Charlie, Mr and Mrs Weasley and oddly, Professor Flitwick. The latter gave Harry a cheery wave as he entered the room and the twins smiled wickedly at him.

Harry was slightly worried.

He sat down on one of the empty chairs and nodded in greeting to the Order members sitting at the table, receiving warm smiles in return. Other Order members were filing into the room as Harry waited, some took an empty chair along the table, and others chose to stand along the edges of the room.

All had anxious expressions on their faces.

"Hello Harry!" twin voices chorused to his left and Harry automatically tensed. Oh it was never good when the twins greeted you in that tone of voice. He smiled weakly and turned to face them. They were leaning around an annoyed looking Ginny and had some brightly coloured sweets clutched in their hands.

"Not right now, Fred and George. This isn't the time," Harry cut them off gently. He didn't want to deal with any tails sprouting from places at the moment. They turned away disappointed, but something by the door made them perk up again.

Harry was almost afraid to turn around as Fred and George exchanged slanted, devious looks, and started as someone slid silently into the seat next to him. Catching a glimpse of platinum blonde hair, he stared straight ahead again, flushing slightly. Why was Draco sitting next to him? The room felt like it was rising several degrees in temperature as Harry sat rigid in his seat.

"Can I have your attention, please," McGonagall called suddenly from the end of the table and Harry jumped again. Focusing his attention back on her face, he missed the mischievous looks Fred and George were sending to each other. "I called an emergency Order meeting for a very serious reason," she began solemnly, "As you all know the Order has been searching for Mundungus. Because of his connections with the...seedier areas of Knockturn Alley, he has provided us with extremely reliable information." She gazed at the table seriously, a tinge of sadness touching her aged face.

"His body was found approximately half an hour ago." Her words created uproar at the table and Harry felt himself jump out of his seat along with the rest of the table. Mundungus? Dead?! How did this happen?!

And more importantly, what the hell were they going to do now?!

They had no information on Voldemort, what he was doing or when he was going to attack next! For all they knew he could be attacking some innocent Muggle village at this very moment. Oh God, so many people would be killed...and it would be his fault.

What had he been doing recently? Acquiring Death Eaters, earning some extremely dangerous powers? Hell, he hadn't even been fully concentrating on finding the Horcruxes. The research they had been doing had been useless. Harry just didn't know how he could do all this without Dumbledore. It was too much, God so much. He couldn't- he didn't know how he could complete the prophecy. Save everybody...

Harry's chest was tightening painfully and he could hardly hear the roar of people's protests over the rush of blood in his ears. What was he doing just sitting around doing nothing? He needed to seriously start to work. First things first, he needed to start researching the Horcruxes thoroughly. Where they might be, what they might, and for that he needed to look further into Voldemort's childhood. Ron and Hermione would help him, he was sure of that. No one else should know though. There was too much danger involved. It killed him to have to involve Ron and Hermione as it was. He knew he'd fall apart if something happened to them.

He slowly sank back down into his seat, deep in thought. McGonagall was trying desperately to calm people down and Kingsley was assisting her in any way he could. It wasn't succeeding much however.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Fred leaning over Harry's chair with a handful of an unpleasant looking sticky substance. As Fred neared Draco on Harry's left, Harry half stood up with a warning on his lips before he registered what he was doing. What were they playing at now?!

Unfortunately, Harry shouldn't have worried about Draco as he had already noticed what the twins were up to and currently had a wand pointing at Fred's chest.

Harry watched stricken as Draco's actions caused a chain reaction amongst the panicked Order members. They turned almost as one body and trained their wands on Draco, their gazes livid. McGonagall, Kingsley, Hermione and Ron were the only exceptions as they stood anxious at the sidelines. Harry closed his eyes for a second before firmly standing up between Draco and the angry mass facing him.

He didn't turn to look at Draco but he could feel his eyes burning into the back of his neck. Good, let him be angry at Harry for interfering, Harry couldn't deal with him at the moment. Instead, Harry gazed steadily at the unfriendly faces glaring at him for interfering. He let a polite smile drift onto his face and the Order members looked back at him bemused. Atleast there was silence now.

"I may have been brought up in the Muggle world," Harry said mildly, "But I was fairly certain it was considered bad manners to draw your wand in someone else's house." He heard Hermione gasp quietly from the back of the room but he ignored her. She was probably ecstatic that he had called it _his_ house not Sirius', but frankly that paled in comparison with what needed to be done at the moment. "I was also under the impression that we were all on the same side in this room, which leads me to wonder why anyone is pointing wands at anyone else in the first place," Harry continued just as politely.

The Order members looked abashed and several of them lowered their wands hastily. Good, Harry thought bitterly, it was about time some of them started to listen to him. However, there was always one person intent on making things difficult. Hestia pushed forward, glaring past Harry at Draco.

"It's his fault, he started it! Imagine trying to curse someone for pulling a prank on them!" she huffed angrily.

So she _had_ known what Fred and George provoked Draco with. She was just trying to get him punished.

Harry sighed before raising an eyebrow at her. She flushed slightly, but stared back defiantly. "I wasn't aware that he cursed anyone actually. Maybe I was mistaken, I haven't had that much experience with curses after all," Harry casually swept aside some of his fringe so his curse scar was revealed on his forehead.

Hestia flushed deeper.

"I think we should all sit back down and discuss what we're going to do next, instead of bickering like children," Harry concluded and then waited for people to move back to their seats. Thankfully everybody including Hestia quickly scurried back to the former positions, looking a little more stressed than usual, but unlikely to curse anyone.

Harry sighed in relief, mainly because he had kept his cool and not sent any flying projectiles around the room with his anger this time. A light brush of a hand on the back of his made him turn his head swiftly but Draco was already heading back to sit in his seat.

Harry shook his head once before sitting back down.

* * *

"Hermione, Ron, I need to talk to you," Harry said quietly as they were heading back to their rooms. The meeting had just finished and he needed to discuss something with them.

Hermione glanced back surprised before nodding quickly. "Of course Harry, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly. Ron gazed puzzled next to her. Harry shook his head, "Not here." He quickly led them to his and Ron's room, closing the door firmly behind them. He cast a quick silencing charm around the room, just in case. He didn't need other people knowing about the Horcruxes.

Harry turned around again and sat down heavily on his bed facing Hermione and Ron on the opposite bed.

"It's about the Horcruxes."

Hermione and Ron paled before nodding bravely. It seemed they hadn't forgotten about them either.

**

* * *

**

No, I hadn't forgotten to put the Horcruxes in. I just needed to add a lot of other things first!


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: No I don't own Harry Potter...I'm just obsessed with the characters.**

**Yes, I'm back and I've updated twice in one week!**

**Okay, you can wipe those stunned expressions of your faces now.**

* * *

"We're going to have to raise our researching skills up a notch," Harry told them bluntly, "I haven't been putting enough thought into where they might be, so from now on I'm going to revise all my memories of what Dumbledore told me. Maybe then I'll have some clue as to where to start looking." Harry smiled grimly. It would be painful as hell, but Harry would do it.

"Why don't you get a pensieve?" Hermione suggested suddenly. She didn't look extremely happy with Harry's new found epiphany, but at least she was suggesting helpful ideas. Ron was still sitting shocked on his bed. Apparently he found denial easier to deal with. Harry couldn't blame him.

But actually, Hermione's pensieve idea was quite ingenious. Harry didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. Dumbledore himself had shown Harry parts of Voldemort's life with one. Obviously it would be difficult seeing Dumbledore again, even if it was just in memories. Harry would be strong though. He had to.

"But where would I get one?" Harry asked biting his lip. He certainly didn't think anyone in the Order had one on hand. Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. She appeared deep in thought, but after a few minutes she gazed back helplessly at Harry. His heart fell into his stomach...but a snort from his side quickly brought his attention back to the matter.

Ron had come out of his shock and was currently gazing at Harry like he had grown two heads. "You're the bloody Boy-Who-Lived, mate. The Chosen One. People would fight between themselves to carve you a new one!" Ron raised an amused eyebrow before shrugging his shoulders at Harry's disgusting and Hermione's sceptical faces. "Just ask Kingsley to get you one. I reckoned he'd be able to get it for you _and_ wouldn't ask too many questions. You know how he is."

Harry glanced at Hermione, who looked rather taken back at Ron's logic. "Okay, well that's sorted. Now, we know about the locket, the ring, the snake, the diary and...Hufflepuff's cup, right?" he looked at Hermione for confirmation. She nodded once. Harry continued speaking, "Dumbledore thought that Voldemort would want something of Ravenclaw's to use as a Horcrux, but he didn't know what it was. _We_ don't know what it is. So we'll have to find it. The diary and the ring have been destroyed, but the others are still intact and aiding Voldemort."

He nodded concisely before looking at Hermione steadily. "I'm going to need you to research any old artefacts associated with Rowena Ravenclaw. Is that okay?" he asked her. She nodded bravely, looking slightly relieved that Harry hadn't asked her to do anything more dangerous. "Ron, someone needs to make sure the Order doesn't become too suspicious. I can't afford more people finding out about what Voldemort created. It has to be just between us." Ron agreed readily as well, obviously eager to do his bit in helping Harry.

So, it was up to him to find out where Voldemort would hide his remaining Horcruxes. Harry doubted he'd gather them altogether. No, that would make it too easy for someone to destroy them all at once...someone like R.A.B, maybe. He was yet another puzzle to figure out.

"Harry?" Hermione's voice sounded through Harry's thoughts and he looked up surprised. Hermione was gazing a little anxiously at him. She had probably called his name more than once. "When are you going to see Snape again?" she asked unexpectedly. Harry's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to deny having any connections with Snape since they had all visited him together, when Hermione shook her head slightly.

"Harry, don't worry about it. I'm certainly not going to ban you from seeing him. If you trust him and...Draco trusts him," Hermione said Malfoy's name hesitantly before plunging on bravely, "well, then I believe you are doing the right thing. Ron and I won't tell the Order what you're doing." She looked at Ron for his agreement, which he gave albeit with a little confusion. He didn't seem to understand the cryptic conversation going on between his two best friends.

Harry smiled at them in relief, before standing up and cancelling the silence charms over the room. "Then we start tomorrow," he said finally.

He would as well...in more ways than one.

* * *

A hand prodding him lightly in the ribs woke him up the next morning. Harry instinctively reached for his wand before rolling over quickly to face the intruder. Draco Malfoy stood casually beside his bed, calm and collected as ever. Harry quickly glanced over to Ron's bed, but he was dead to the world as usual.

"Now?" Harry mouthed at Draco, who nodded slowly before exiting the room silently. It was still dark, and as Harry didn't wanted to wake Ron up by turning on the light, he dressed almost blindly. He ran a comb once through his hair before giving up and slipping out of the room. He brushed his teeth quickly in the bathroom and then made his way downstairs to the kitchen. Draco was already there but he did not look as Harry entered, instead opting to floo into Malfoy Manor quickly. Harry followed him reluctantly, a cold feeling entering the pit of his stomach at Draco's obvious snub. He swiftly ignored it though and spoke his destination clearly for the fireplace.

His journey was better than last time and he managed to stay on his feet this time at least. Draco was walking swiftly across the dusty room without a backwards look. Harry straightened up briskly and followed him tensely. They traced their steps from the day before, but this time Draco was careful to obliterate any traces they left in the dust as they walked. Harry was slightly puzzled by this action but Draco's stony face stopped Harry from questioning him. The silence between them became quite awkward, but Harry refused to break it first. He didn't know what to say to Draco anyway. Should he apologise? Pretend it never happened? He just didn't know with Draco.

They reached the main hall, and as before Snape stepped out of the shadows carefully. He nodded in greeting but stopped when he saw Harry. A hint of a smirk crossed his lips and he raised an eyebrow. "Good God Potter, did you change in the dark or are you Gryffindors sporting a new fashion these days?" he taunted, his lip curling in disdain. He of course looked as menacing, and depressing, as ever.

Harry glanced down at himself and was surprised to find his socks mismatching and his trousers clashing with his t-shirt. He shrugged before rolling his eyes at Snape. "Well yes, actually, I did change in the dark. Normal people were sleeping you see." He cast a pointed look at the dim light filtering through the dank windows. Snape gave him once last cursory sneer before stretching out his hand. Harry's wand instantly flew from his back pocket and into Snape's grasp. Harry made a futile attempt to grab it as it flew past him, but it was just out of reach.

"I'm disappointed Potter, you didn't even bother to withdraw it this time. Do you really not see me as much of a threat anymore?" Snape scoffed. He casually grasped Harry's wand in one hand and levelled his wand at Harry. "We'll have to remedy that," he concluded wickedly. Harry realised what Snape was planning a second before he acted, and dived out of the way just as a stunner flew over his head.

"What the hell are you playing at?!" Harry yelled, whilst crouching in a defensive pose near the floor. He had no wand, absolutely no way of protecting himself. His stupid accidental wandless magic certainly wasn't going to help him now and Draco had disappeared off somewhere.

Snape gave him an emotionless look before levelling his wand at Harry again. Harry rolled quickly to the side but a curse still caught his side, cutting a thin strip through his t-shirt and into his skin. Snape was firing cutting curses?! Was he mental?! Or maybe he really wasn't on the light side anymore...

The thought flickered briefly to the front of Harry's mind before he dismissed it quickly. Of course Snape wasn't in allegiance with the Death Eaters anymore. He just had some extremely odd teaching methods that was all. Odd methods that didn't seem to be teaching Harry anything except that cutting curses hurt...but maybe there was some objective to this pointless exercise.

As a second cutting curse sped his way, Harry dived away again. Snape was throwing these curses with deadly accuracy and Harry couldn't dodge them forever. His back and legs were already sore from hitting the hard stone floor. He had to think of some way he could get his wand back, and quickly.

Snape saw Harry's meditative look at Harry's wand in his hand. He waved it mockingly before tucking it into his robes. He tsked in mock pity. "Sorry Potter, the only way you'll get this back is if you summon it...and oh dear, it appears you don't have a wand to summon it with." His black eyes gleamed with amusement. "And don't think your pathetic attempt at controlling wandless magic is going to help you either. You don't seem to be able to do anything with it at the moment. Maybe you're just not angry enough..." Snape bared his teeth quickly before firing off a round of curses at Harry.

Harry managed to dodge some of the volley of curses Snape managed to send at him, but most of them hit him hard. They weren't cutting curses this time, which was thankful as Harry would probably be cut to ribbons at this time if they were, but each hit him with the force of a small anvil. Harry was gasping for breath by the time he could stand up straight. The noises in the room sounded awfully muffled as he reached impossibly for that extra power inside of him. He didn't understand why he had been able to reach it so easily before. He was just as angry now as he had been then, more so perhaps. But yet nothing happened and Snape just kept firing off round of curses after round of curses.

The air around Harry felt oddly still but he paid no attention to that as he ducked and weaved around Snape's spells. His breath felt short and his head was beginning to hurt. As Harry slid under one curse and unexpected one hit him in the chest. It disappeared into nothing and Harry instantly felt light. A small voice was urging him to lie down, give up. He might as well. Snape was going to win anyway. Harry felt his knees buckling before he remembered himself. He remembered fourth year training and turned mentally to the voice in his head.

"No," he growled firmly, "I won't."

Harry instantly felt Snape release the curse and fall back a step. Harry snapped his eyes back up to look at Snape, a small grimace of satisfaction on his lips. It quickly disappeared as Snape sneered again however.

"Don't get too cocky, Potter. I'm just keeping you on your toes," Snape snarled. He raised his wand and yet again engaged Harry in a round of curses. Harry rolled to avoid all of them and his eyes widened as he recognised the spells. Cruciatus curses! That was two unforgivable curses in the space of a minute! Harry really didn't think Snape would try the third, but the manic glint in Snape's eyes made him falter slightly.

"Come on Potter! This isn't just target practice for me, trust me I don't need it," Snape hissed, "You're meant to be trying to accomplish something here, though it wouldn't surprise me if you had as much luck at this as brewing a competent potion." He sent another Cruciatus at Harry, but then tapped his wand thoughtfully on his chin. "I thought you'd inherited everything from your father including his ego...but apparently his talent for magic escaped you Potter."

Harry saw red and he prepared to tackle Snape before remembering himself. He couldn't let Snape wind him up like this. Ripping out Snape's guts certainly wasn't going to help him get back his wand, even if it did quell the fury brewing in Harry's stomach and chest. He didn't understand how he could be this angry and yet his wandless magic did nothing. Maybe it meant he was getting more control over it...

Even that small glimmer of hope could not completely obliterate Harry's anger.

"It seems you have inherited your mother's talent actually, you're completely useless as a wizard," Snape continued, almost growling at Harry now. He was moving faster now, his wand arm slashing like a sword. Harry snarled at him, rolling frantically again as more cutting curses flew his way. He was crouching winded, when he saw Snape smirk and then clearly say "_Legillimens!"_

Harry had no time to prepare himself as the first onslaught of memories hit. Sirius falling through the veil, Dumbledore falling over the side of the Astronomy tower, Cedric engulfed in a flash of green light. Harry pushed frantically at the rush of images, his mouth open in a silent scream of fury, when the pressure ceased. He lay gasping on the floor before pushing himself up to his feet again shakily.

Snape sneered at him.

"Even more pathetic than usual Potter," he commented harshly, "Are dead people all you think of? Or is it just the dead people that died because of you?" He raised his wand again, his face a mask of disgust when all the air in the room seemed to suddenly move. All Harry saw was a Cruciatus curse flying towards him before he raised his arms up instinctively. The power he had been reaching for flew forwards all at once, directly towards the curse heading straight for Harry's chest. It hit it full on and the spell dissipated into nothing. Harry's magic didn't stop there but instead continued towards Snape.

Harry felt his knees buckle as Snape hastily erected a shield. The arc of pure power hit Snape's shield and actually shoved him back a few metres.

Harry felt exhausted and his legs fully collapsed under him, his eyes sliding shut. The last thing he registered before he drifted off was Snape's face actually almost smiling at him. "That's more like it, Potter" a voice floated to him.

**

* * *

**

Good? Not good? Tell me what you think :)


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Do I really need to write this out again?**

**I'm giving myself a little pat on the back for updating quickly again. I hope you all appreciate it!**

* * *

A rustle of clothes on material was the first sound Harry heard as he jolted awake. He blinked rapidly, his vision blurry and distorted. He had an awful taste in his mouth as well. The rustling noise sounded again and Harry swivelled his head quickly in that direction before sitting up quickly. He winced slightly as his sore muscles protested, but he quickly ignored the pain.

He appeared to have been lying on a large chaise lounge, clearly big enough for two people, in a surprisingly clean room. Atleast it was clean compared to the rest of the house. The windows were still filthy but there was a distinct lack of dust in the room.

And sitting with Harry's feet resting on his lap was...Draco Malfoy? Harry stared for a few seconds as memories flooded back to him, before glaring at Malfoy. "And where were you when Snape was battering me? Getting a front row seat?!" he sniped. His head was beginning to hurt and to be quite honest; Harry was annoyed that Malfoy had apparently agreed to help Snape with his ridiculous teaching techniques. He had, after all, brought Harry to Malfoy Manor today.

Draco arched a pale eyebrow before shoving Harry's feet off his lap. "Actually Potter, I was struggling to keep your rampaging magic under control. I didn't quite fancy having the Manor crashing down on my head. I obviously stopped when you managed to create some sort of semblance of control over your bloody wandless magic." He smirked and then raised a hand slowly.

Harry scowled darkly, but as Draco motioned for him to watch, he quietened. Ever so slowly the air in the room began to still. Draughts Harry hadn't even realised had been getting in froze and the air took on a slightly treacle feel. Harry could still feel air rushing into his lungs, but it felt colder somehow. His eyes widened as he glanced at Malfoy. He was sitting as still as a statue with his arms outstretched. His face was peaceful with control and patience etched into his features. Unexpectedly, Harry felt a rush of desire burn through him and he clenched his hands slightly before flushing. It wasn't any good thinking about that now, Malfoy was obviously still angry at him.

He probably had every right to as well. If Harry had just managed to control his bloody hormones instead of fuelling Malfoy's then that morning wouldn't have happened.

Harry remembered it clearly as if it was happening before his eyes again. Draco's lips had touched his and it had felt _Oh God, Amazing._ Fire raced through his veins and it burnt, devouring Harry's every nerve. Draco had swept his tongue along Harry's mouth then and it was all Harry could do not to press himself completely against Malfoy. They had kissed for several moments, completely unaware of the rising temperature when Harry suddenly found himself pressed rather close to Malfoy indeed, and Malfoy's arms were holding him there, running up into his hair and clenching it between his fingers. Those damned sparks continuously ran up and down his spine.

If Harry hadn't been there he wouldn't have believed what had happened next.

Breathless, Harry had pulled away slightly and Malfoy had attacked his neck with the ferocity of a starving man, leaving a burning mark on Harry's pulse point. Harry could only pant with wide eyes as he threaded his hands into Malfoy's soft hair. It was like touching corn silk. Malfoy had then bit a particularly sensitive spot on Harry's neck and he had gasped softly, tilting his head back.

It had been then that Harry had spotted the potted plant on fire next to the kitchen door.

He had jumped about a foot in the air and then pushed Malfoy quickly, his foggy mind quickly becoming focused again. He had then whipped out his wand and cast a rapid Aguamenti charm at the flaming bush. The fire had burnt out quickly and nothing else had been damaged but well...Malfoy rapidly left the room afterwards, his face a blank mask.

It had been Harry's fault of course; Malfoy had such good control over his powers at the moment that it was obviously Harry that pushed him over the edge. Due to their...unique connection, Harry had probably fuelled Malfoy's desire with his own thus creating the devastation of plant life by the door. Malfoy probably blamed Harry for not filtering his emotions like he usually did when Malfoy's emotions got too intense.

Sure, they hadn't quite had practice with this situation before, but Harry should have had enough common sense to realise what would happen. Harry sighed subconsciously.

"Potter? Hello, Scarhead?"

Harry started slightly, before grinning weakly at Malfoy. He was gazing at Harry with a bemused expression on his face.

"You haven't called me that in a while," Harry joked half-heartedly. He still wasn't sure how things between him and Draco were. But...if he didn't find out soon, there would always be this _thing_ between him and Malfoy, like a dark cloud overhead. Harry bit his lip softly. And he wanted something with Malfoy...didn't he? He didn't just want him for his looks, though nobody would blame him if he did. Malfoy was bloody gorgeous for a boy. He had pale limbs and even paler features, his eyes were the most unusual silver that Harry had ever seen. He didn't know why he hadn't seen it before, but then again; it was awfully difficult to see the beauty in someone's features when they are constantly twisted in a sneer whilst beating your face in.

Harry glanced up again at Malfoy's face before staring at his shoes again. Bloody hell, he was meant to be the Gryffindor here but instead he was acting like a Hufflepuff first year. He gritted his teeth before looking up resolutely at Malfoy. "I'm sorry about this morning," he blurted out and then bit his lip. What kind of finesse was that?

Draco gave Harry a wry smile before rolling his eyes. "Somehow...I knew you'd try to blame yourself for what happened this morning. I think I'm getting better at reading you Potter."

Harry's eyebrows drew together in a frown. He wasn't sure if predictability was a good thing or a bad thing. "Wha-"he started to ask, before he was cut off by Malfoy.

"It wasn't you this morning Potter, bloody hell you were fantastic," Malfoy cut in and gave Harry a slow smile which made Harry's blood rush and flow pleasantly, "It's just...Merlin..." He let out a frustrated breath, his face now shadowed. "I'm not normal. I can't be because of what _they_ did to me." Malfoy rested his head on the back of the chaise lounge; looking the most vulnerable Harry had even seen him.

"It just hit me this morning. I can't do things others can because I have to be so careful, all of the time. One emotion too strong will push me over the edge and well, you can see what happens then." Malfoy turned his head to face Harry and gave him a bitter smile.

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that.

It had seemed like Malfoy had such good control over his powers. He had obviously been doing some training at Malfoy Manor. But now he was confessing that he was never completely in control of them...Harry knew what that felt like. Hesitantly he stretched out a hand to touch the back of Malfoy's hand, but was hurt when Malfoy pulled away abruptly.

"Potter, that's just it. I can't do _this_. I thought I could but obviously I can't," Malfoy gritted out. "I could hurt you again and I don't think I'd get off as lightly with your Order lackeys this time around." He smirked half-heartedly before facing the wall again.

Harry raised an eyebrow.

And people said Harry had a hero complex.

"So you're saying that because you can't control your powers when feeling a strong emotion, you can't...be with me?" Harry confirmed, struggling a little bit on how to word the last part of the sentence.

Harry waited until Malfoy gave a barely imperceptible nod before grasping Malfoy's chin. "Well...last time we solved that with practice," he whispered before shyly touching his lips to Malfoy's.

Draco's lips were already parted in surprise, making it convenient for Harry to hesitantly slip his tongue into his mouth. Draco was unresponsive at first but as Harry slid his tongue experimentally through his mouth, he pulled Harry onto his lap with a groan. It was a little odd to be in this position considering Harry was used to be on the bottom, but his mind was blanked of all thoughts when Draco began to respond and touched his tongue to Harry's.

As expected, the familiar feeling of heat running through his veins, the absolute lust rising through him threatened to engulf Harry, but he slowly pulled back from Draco minutely. Focussing his mind on filtering Draco's lust, whilst continuing to kiss Draco proved to be slightly more difficult than Harry had imagined, especially when Draco shifted his hips slightly. Harry gasped into Malfoy's mouth, his concentration broken slightly, before steeling himself again.

He felt Malfoy relax his grip around Harry's ribs and slide his hands to the bottom of Harry's shirt. Suddenly, in a motion Harry missed, Draco had his hands running along Harry's bare back and Harry arched away from the slight chilliness of his hands.

The heat in Harry's veins was still there and Harry continued to filter Draco's emotions, but after a while it became easier. Harry began to let himself relax into the kiss more and slowly twined his hands into Draco's silky hair. But as breathing became an issue, Harry pulled away again after a final brush of his lips against Draco's.

Slightly worried as to how Malfoy would react, Harry slowly attempted to ease himself off Malfoy's lap. However, Malfoy's arms were unnervingly wrapped around Harry again. Cautiously, Harry gazed into Malfoy's face, which was in fact only a few inches away from Harry's.

"Potter," Malfoy started off dangerously, his grey eyes burning delightfully, "that was an incredibly idiotic Gryffindor thing to do, and I detest all things Gryffindor."

Harry's heart fell slightly, but he boldly raised an eyebrow all the same. "Are you sure you detest _all_ things Gryffindor?" Harry questioned suggestively, surprising himself.

Malfoy froze in shock before smirking. "Well...I can think of a few things I don't mind," he replied loftily. Harry grinned goofily at him and then wrapped his arms around Malfoy's neck. Happiness welled deep down inside him and he lent in to kiss Malfoy again.

"Unfortunately for you Potter, I don't agree with Draco here." The voice sounded unexpectedly from the doorway and Harry jerked back from Malfoy in shock. "And you have training in five minutes Potter, so I suggest you stop manhandling Mr. Malfoy and make your way to the ballroom. Footsteps echoed away from the room as Harry jumped away from Malfoy in embarrassment. He couldn't believe he had just done that...in front of Snape nonetheless! Harry just wanted to crawl into a dark place for several hours and go to sleep.

Malfoy was smiling at Harry's obvious embarrassment and slyly reached out to stroke Harry's thigh. Harry jerked as if electrocuted and backed away as Draco let out a loud laugh. He apparently hadn't minded Snape's untimely interruption. He was completely comfortable with Snape's presence...

Harry frowned at Malfoy before giving him a light shove. "Why do you even trust him anyway?" he asked curiously. Harry knew that Dumbledore had instructed Snape to kill him, even if he was unsure of the circumstances, so he passably trusted Snape. But why did Malfoy?

Malfoy stopped laughing suddenly before giving Harry a searching look. He tilted his head to the left as if contemplating whether to tell Harry and then stood up. The words he said next shocked Harry to his very core.

"Potter...Snape was the one who saved me from the Elemental Curse."

**

* * *

**

Yes, I know. I'm evil. Get over it. :)


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: All rights remain with J K Rowling and her associated companies, not with me.**

**Yes, I know. Two months was a horribly long time to leave you without a new chapter. Fortunately for you, kowabungabrittany convinced me to start posting chapters again. **

**For you kowabungabrittany, I dedicate this chapter and apologise profusely for not updating sooner.**

* * *

_Harry frowned at Malfoy before giving him a light shove. "Why do you even trust him anyway?" he asked curiously. Harry knew that Dumbledore had instructed Snape to kill him, even if he was unsure of the circumstances, so he passably trusted Snape. But why did Malfoy?_

_Malfoy stopped laughing suddenly before giving Harry a searching look. He tilted his head to the left as if contemplating whether to tell Harry and then stood up. The words he said next shocked Harry to his very core._

_"Potter...Snape was the one who saved me from the Elemental Curse."_

* * *

Harry could see Malfoy's mouth moving, but no sound reached his ears.

A dull ringing was resonating inside his head; the revelation that Snape had saved Malfoy's life silenced him. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of this before. Malfoy had always seen to trust Snape indisputably. They didn't have the type of relationship normally expected of a student and their head of house, but Harry hadn't questioned it aloud before.

Now he wished wholly that he could take back his question.

His perception of Snape had warped dramatically throughout the last week or so, but this severed it completely. Snape had been a murderer. He _was_ a murderer. Hell, he had been a Death Eater. But...he had saved Malfoy's life and he was helping Harry with training.

"Potter!" A finger poked him harshly on the arm, and Harry's eyes flicked back into focus. Malfoy's face was hovering concerned next to him. "Are you alright?"

Harry pondered that for a second. Was he alright? He needed answers that much he was sure of. He could reorganise his thoughts about Snape till later though, that wasn't necessary at the moment.

"Does Voldemort know how he did it?" Harry knew his question surprised Malfoy who had obviously thought Harry would want to hear the exciting tale before asking sensible questions. Malfoy could surely indulge Harry later on those facts, right now he needed to know if a hundred plus Death Eaters would be besieging the Order with forces that could obliterate them in a matter of minutes.

Malfoy's eyes shadowed slightly, "No, Snape escaped before they could force torture him."

Harry's mind focused sharply. "But he was injured before. How do you know that wasn't from the Death Eaters torturing him? He could easily have deceived you into thinking the secret was safe."

Malfoy's chin came up defiantly and he folded his arms stiffly. "He said he received those before he could escape and I believe him. He wouldn't give the Dark Lord such a valuable weapon to use at his arsenal." Harry frowned and turned around swiftly. In reality, Malfoy had no idea whether or not Snape had told Voldemort. For all Harry knew Voldemort could be preparing a super army to lead an assault on the Wizarding world.

He needed to talk to Snape.

Without waiting acknowledging Malfoy, Harry began to stride towards the Ballroom. Harry heard Malfoy growl softly from behind him, but he ignored it. Malfoy could be pissed if he wanted, this was more important.

He threw open the door to the Ballroom, not even wincing when it hit the wall with a deafening crash. He quickly spotted Snape sitting on one of the few clean chairs by a wall. He raised a single eyebrow slowly as Harry advanced towards him. "Eager to get started with training Potter?" he remarked flippantly.

Harry didn't answer; instead he kept striding towards Snape.

Snape let out a measured breath as Harry's expression didn't change. "I gather you informed him, Draco?" he stated mildly before getting to his feet gradually. "I thought I instructed you to let me tell him. Merlin forbid, we all know how volatile his temper can get."

Harry halted and ground his teeth. He had a steady grasp on his temper at the moment, but he wasn't sure how long he could contain it if Snape kept taunting him like this.

"Leave him out of it," he barked. He narrowed his eyes to slits as he glared at Snape, not at all liking the disapproving looks Snape was sending over his shoulder at Malfoy. "Did. You. Tell. Him?"

Snape sneered at Harry. "Do you really need an answer to that, Potter? After all, I assumed you were aware we're trying to defeat the Dark Lord, not aid him." He slowly withdrew his wand from his sleeve, alarming Harry slightly but not enough to quell his anger.

"I was aware of that, thank you Snape," Harry replied waspishly, "but you and I both know that's not what I meant." He reached into his pocket to withdraw his own wand, only to clasp at air. Snape must still have his wand. He casually let his hand fall back to his side, ignoring Snape's superior smirk. "Did they torture you and find out how to make an Elemental?"

Snape looked back at him coolly, not even raising his wand yet. "Your concern for me is touching Potter. I am actually staggered that you haven't asked me how I did it yet. I thought you of all people would be frantic to get your moronic hands on that information." The corner of his mouth tilted up maliciously. His hand made a small movement then and Harry rolled to the side as a Stunner shot over his head.

He stayed crouched on the ground as Snape gazed at him unruffled. "That's not a piece of information I require, Snape. I do need to know if Voldemort knows how to do it though" he shot back. He had seen what the curse had done to Malfoy. Why on earth would he want to inflict that on someone else? He reached deep for his wandless magic, exhaustion flooding him almost as once. He couldn't feel the pressure that had been surrounding him last time, but he still couldn't quite reach that power that kept evading him.

He glanced to his left as the door to the Ballroom slammed. Malfoy was probably still annoyed at him. He sighed inwardly, but focused his attention back on Snape. He darted to the right again as Snape shot another spell at him. He crouched panting as Snape studied him thoughtfully.

"Fortunately for you Potter, that information is safe for now. I appear to be something of an expert at keeping extremely dangerous information secret," Snape finally broke the silence that had spread between them. He looked extremely reluctant to part with this knowledge that could have caused Harry endless anxiety for weeks. "I have burned all notes I made on that certain potion and I was the only one that worked on it."

A potion? McGonagall said that nothing had been invented that could stop the Elemental curse from either burning or freezing the victim alive. "McGonagall said there was no such thing" Harry answered sharply, forgetting momentarily that he didn't want to know. Something about what Snape had just said was niggling the back of his mind.

Snape sneered knowingly. "That Potter, is because I, and to some extent Dumbledore, invented it. After all I am a Potions master. How did you think I stopped the curse?" He lazily flicked another stunner at Harry who dodged it with ease. "Unless you thought there was something _special_ about Malfoy that enabled him to fight off the effects of the curse" he scoffed at Harry's embarrassed flush, "How naïve of you."

"But you're sure nobody else knows how to make this...potion?" Harry clarified. Dumbledore obviously wouldn't have said anything to anybody about this potion. He would have known the risks.

Snape smirked, "Yes Potter. I - unlike some of the Order - know how to make operations covert." He changed his tactics and sent four spells shooting at Harry, forcing Harry to dodge three but the last one hit him in his shoulder.

It was just a Stinging Hex, but it made him wince nonetheless. He racked his brains trying to remember what he did last time, but he couldn't remember any triggers instead it rather seemed to explode outwards by itself. He remembered being incredibly angry at Snape, but that was impossible when Snape had just revealed he had managed to save Malfoy's life. He bit his lip hard, his nails digging into his palm slightly. Snape had mentioned that this new, and very annoying, new power had been triggered from helping Malfoy with his Elemental powers.

He reminded himself to smack Malfoy later.

No, that was ridiculous. It was hardly Malfoy's fault after all. He sighed inwardly before straightening up slightly. If he could just, somehow get his wand back then maybe he'd be able to fight Snape on more even grounds. He refused to be hexed until his powers burst free on their own, rendering him unconscious in the process. That certainly wouldn't help him at all to learn how his powers worked.

Dodging another curse, Harry landed so one of his hands was tilted up towards Snape. Hopefully Snape wouldn't realise what he was trying to do.

"Potter, you should know by now that you're incapable of summoning your wand from this distance," Snape sneered at him, not fooled in the slightest.

Damn it, Harry cursed inwardly. Undeterred, he stretched his fingers in his right hand, willing with all his might that somehow his wand would appear and fly to his hand.

He rolled to his side, narrowly missing a bolt of yellow light that didn't look pleasant in the slightest. He scowled deeply, stretching endlessly for that thread of magic dancing just out of his reach. Sweat broke out on his forehead as a tingling sensation spread across the palm of his right hand. Harry stared hard at his palm as the tingling sensation began to spread through his arm and up to his shoulder.

He glanced up momentarily distracted as Snape shouted a spell at him. It struck him as odd that Snape had shouted this spell instead of casting it nonverbally like all the rest. He rolled out of the way before raising his arm fully this time. He was panting from the exertion now and Snape was glaring at him from across the room. He shot a Cruciatus curse at Harry, his eyes tracking Harry's every movement.

Without knowing exactly why, Harry raised his right arm...

...and watched in astonishment as the spell dissipated a foot away from his right arm.

Immediately his concentration was broken and he dropped onto all fours, his chest heaving. Sweat trickled down his forehead from strands stuck to his head, but he ignored that. Instead he forced his head to look back up at Snape who was striding towards him.

Snape stopped a metre away from Harry before throwing Harry's wand down on the floor. "That'll do for today Potter. I expect to see you tomorrow though." He levelled one last look at Harry before striding away, his robes billowing as usual.

An exhausted grin broke across Harry's face.

* * *

He tumbled out of the fireplace as was his custom, when arms enfolded him from nowhere. Harry gasped slightly as his ribs creaked worryingly, and his mouth immediately filled with bushy brown hair. Though just as quickly as he was grabbed, he was released and shoved away.

"Where on earth have you been?!" Hermione fairly screeched into his ear. Harry batted away her fussing hands that were brushing the soot from his hair and his shoulders. Another hand punched his arm and Harry glanced up to look at Ron's scarlet face.

"She's been like this since yesterday," Ron muttered darkly, "I only just convinced her not to alert the Order of your disappearance." He sighed deeply before tucking his hands into his pockets.

"Well excuse me Ronald for being concerned about our best friend," Hermione sniffed haughtily. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Harry. "So did you go and see Snape?" she demanded.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, I did and I'll tell you about it later, but right now I need to sleep." He yawned widely behind his hand, exhaustion washing over him again.

"But...it's only one in the afternoon Harry," Hermione said puzzled. Harry waved his hand at her in vaguely. "I'm really tired Hermione." He didn't care what time in the bloody afternoon it was, he needed to sleep now.

"Alright," she said bewildered, "but I want to talk to you later."

He nodded vaguely before slowly making his way upstairs, his feet trudging all the way.

Finally, he reached his and Ron's bedroom and opened the door...only to find the room dark and Malfoy curled up asleep in his bed. He blinked tiredly before moving to close the door again, when Malfoy spoke up softly.

"Where are you going?" Malfoy's voice was muffled by the duvet but he was clearly staring expectedly at Harry.

Harry's eyes widened. "Just going to find somewhere to sleep," he stammered out awkwardly. Malfoy didn't say anything for a while and Harry assumed he had fallen asleep again. He quietly began to close the door again when Malfoy spoke.

"What's wrong with this bed?" he questioned softly. Harry could just see one of his eyebrows raised sardonically. He let out a soft breath as Malfoy sat up. "Well, you seem to be occupying it, Malfoy," he answered teasing.

"So?" Malfoy shot back quickly.

Harry hesitated a second before walking over to his bed. Malfoy edged over to make room before lying back down, facing the wall this time. Harry wavered slightly, but made up his mind quickly. He climbed into the bed next to Malfoy, his back pressed into Harry's arm. He lay stiffly for a few minutes before relaxing into the warmth of his bed.

He could hear Malfoy's even breathing, but Malfoy's back was too stiff for him to be asleep. Harry gently rested a hand on Malfoy's shoulder. "Listen...I'm sorry about earlier. I was worried and I had no excuse to take it out on you," he apologised softly.

Slowly, Malfoy's back softened and he shifted more firmly into Harry. "Don't worry about it Potter. I'll get you back later." He yawned once before settling down fully and became still.

Harry grinned, not at all worried about Malfoy's threat, and let his own eyelids close.

**

* * *

**

Oh this chapter reminded me how much I love Drarry. I hope it was alright for you.


End file.
